"10=23, 


ajiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiii iiiiimiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiti 


Daring  the  first  fifty  years  of  life  of  Ver- 
milion County  the  TELEPHONE  was  unknown. 

During  the  second  fifty  years  the  TELE- 
PHONE was  invented,  perfected,  and  became  a 
practical  necessity  in  every  home  and  office. 

Truly,  the  "first  fifty  years  were  the  hard- 
est!" 


sni 


The  Vermilion  County 
Telephone  Company 

1876  :-:  The  Telephone's  Fiftieth  Year  :-:  1926 


Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip 


ILLINOIS  HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


"Our  fathers  in  a  wondrous  age, 

Ere  yet  the  earth  was  small, 

Insured  to  us  a  heritage, 

And  doubted  not  at  all 

That  we,  the  children  of  their  heart, 

Which  then  did  beat  so  high, 

In  later  time  should  play  like  part 

For  our  posterity     .... 

Dear-bought  and  clear,  a  thousand  year 

Our  father's  title  runs, 

Make  we  likewise  their  sacrifice, 

Defrauding  not  our  sons!" 


.  ;■■-:  ■   ■--  ■    :  .■■  -:;,  ;■ 


r 


,  J         * 


Vermilion  County  Memorial  to  Her  World  War  Dead 


THE  CENTENNIAL 
BOOK 


OFFICIAL  PROGRAM  OF  THE 
CEREMONIES  AND  THE 
PAGEANT  IN  CELEBRATION 
OF  THE  CENTENNIAL  OF 
VERMILION,  FORTY-FOURTH 
COUNTY  IN  THE  TWENTY- 
FIRST  STATE 


CLINT  CLAY  TILTON 
EDITOR 


HELD  IN  DANVILLE— DANVILLE  ON  THE  DIXIE 

IN  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS 

1826-1926 


An  Applanation 


Ho!  Ye  Men  and  Women  of  Old  Vermilion  who  dwelt 
'neath  the  shadows  of  the  giant  oak  and  maple,  and  strode 
forth  at  break  of  Morn  to  battle  with  and  finally  conquer 
the  rank  growth  of  the  Prairie,  in  the  days  when  Illinois 
was  Young !  We  call  to  you  to  wake  and  listen  to  our  words 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving.  We  call  to  you  who  sleep  in 
Jimmy  Butler's  "God's  Acre";  to  you  whose  final  rest  has 
been  disturbed,  when  the  Greed  of  Man  desecrated  the 
Burial  Ground  provided  by  Amos  Williams  and  to  you  who 
wait  the  Final  Call  in  a  dozen  other  Grave  Yards  of  the 
Early  Days. 

To  you  who  have  solved  Life's  Mystery  an  eternity 
means  naught,  but  we,  who  now  dwell  in  the  comfort  that 
your  sacrifice  made  possible,  count  the  days  and  the  weeks 
and  the  months  and  the  years — and  the  Records  of  Man 
show  that  Old  Vermilion  now  has  reached  the  Century  of 
her  being. 

One  Hundred  Years !  A  short  span  for  the  living,  and 
it  is  only  when  one  delves  into  the  Records  of  the  Stalwart 
Men  and  Women  who  came  to  the  Prairies  in  the  Days  when 
Illinois  was  Young  that  we  realize  that  we  have  reason  to 
be  boastful  in  this  year  of  Twenty-six. 

Therefore,  we,  who  now  abide  in  the  peace  and  plenty 
of  the  Old  Vermilion  of  Nineteen  Twenty-six  have  as- 
sembled together  in  Celebration  to  do  you — the  Trail 
Blazers  and  Conquerors  of  the  Wilderness — the  full  honor 
that  you  merit. 

Pioneers  of  Old  Vermilion!  In  this  week,  by  Parade 
and  Pageant,  and  the  Words  of  Clever  Talkers  we  will  give 
full  tribute  to  your  efforts  in  the  Early  Day. 

Let  the  bugle  call  resound  that  the  Men  and  Women  of 
Old  Vermilion  may  gather  to  do  honor  to  our  Sires ! 

WE,  THE  DESCENDENTS. 


Gknrral  program 

TUESDAY,  SEPTEMBER  28,  1926 
MORNING 

6:00 — National  Salute  by  Company  "A". 

8:30— Old  Settler's  Re-Union  at  Armory, 

l  Under  auspices  of  Half-Century  Club) 
i  Basket  Dinner  and  Visitation  at  Noon) 

9:30 — Band  Concerts — Wabash  Station  Lawn,   Federal   Building,   World   War  Memorial,   Public 
Square. 

10:30 — Addresses,  Southeast  corner  of  Public  Square. 

Hon.  Roy  O.  West,  Secretary,  National  Republican  Committee. 
Native  of  Georgetown,  Illinois,  now  living  in  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Hon.  George  T.  Buckingham,  Member  law  firm  of  DeFrees,  Buckingham  &  Eaton,  General 
Counsel  for  Illinois  Power  &  Light  Corporation  in  Chicago,  Illinois.  Native  of  Potomac, 
Illinois;  now  living  in  Chicago,  Illinois. 


AFTERNOON 
1:30 — Band  Concerts. 

Inspection  of  historical  relics  in  business  house  windows  and  D.  A.  R.  museum  at  public 
library-. 

3:00 — Pioneer  and  Fraternal  Parade. 

Under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Woods  H.  Martin.  This  parade  will  be  composed  of  historic 
floats  and  the  various  fraternal  orders  and  clubs  in  the  county. 

Parades  form  on  North  Hazel  Street,  south  on  Hazel  to  North,  east  on  North  to  Washington, 
south  on  Washington  to  Main,  west  on  Main  to  Victory  Bridgr,  counter-march  to  Public 
Square,  north  on  Vermilion  to  Williams  Street. 


EVEN I NO 


8:00 — Historical  and  Symbolical  Pageant  with  a  cast  of  seven  hundred  people  at  Illinois-Indiana 
Fair  Grounds,  Danville,  Illinois. 


10:30— Reveille. 


\9 


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H» 


Gkurral  Program 

WEDNESDAY,  SEPTEMBER  29,   1926 

MORNING 

6:00 — National  Salute  by  Company  "D". 

9:30— Band  Concerts. 

10:30 — Addresses,  southeast  corner  of  Public  Square. 

Judge  E.  R.  E.  Kimbrough,  born  in  Edgar  county,  moved  to  Vermilion  county  before  the 
Civil  War.     Now  living  in  Danville,  Illinois. 

Hon.  Wayne  C.  Williams,  Ex-Attorney  General  of  Colorado,  native  of  Sidell  township,  now 
living  in  Denver,  Colorado. 


AFTERNOON 

1 :30 — Dress  Parade  of  Veterans  of  Four  Wars. 

Under  command  of  Colonel  Hadley,  Governor  at  the  National  Soldiers'  Home. 

3 :00 — Educational  Parade. 

Under  direction  of  Captain  L.  A.  Tuggle,  County  Superintendent  of  Schools.  Grade  Schools 
and  High  Schools  from  the  different  Townships  in  the  county  participating.  Twenty-two 
thousand  nine  hundred  pupils  enrolled  in  the  schools  of  Vermilion  county. 

8:00 — Second  Presentation  of  Historical  and  Symbolical  Pageant  at  Illinois-Indiana  Fair  Grounds, 
Danville,  Illinois. 

10:30— Reveille. 


EVENING 


8:00 — Historical  and  Symbolical  Pageant  with  a  cast  of  seven  hundred  people  at  Illinois-Indiana 
Fair  Grounds,  Danville,  Illinois. 

10:30— Reveille. 


Gkurral  Program 

THURSDAY,  SEPTEMBER  30,   1926 

MORNING 

6:00 — National  Salute  by  Company  "I".  (Capt.  Beeleri. 

9:30 — Band  Concerts. 

10:30 — Addresses,  southeast  corner  of  Public  Square. 

Hon.  John  Walker,  President  of  Illinois  Federation  of  Labor.  Now  living  in  Springfield, 
Illinois. 

Hon.  Edwin  T.  Meredith,  Ex-Secretary  of  Agriculture  of  United  States.  Publisher  and 
Managing  Editor  of  "Successful  Farming,"  a  farm  magazine  having  over  a  million  circula- 
tion.     Now  living  in  Des  Moines.  Iowa. 


AFTERNOON 
1:30 — Band  Concerts. 

Visitors  invited  to  inspect  Lincoln  Tablets  at  Feldkamp  home,  Gilbert  Street:  corner  of  First 
National  Bank  building;  Hubbard  Tablet,  corner  Palmer  National  Bank  building. 

3:00— Parade. 

Agriculture,  Labor,  Commerce  and  Manufacturing.     Under  the  direction  of  Mr.  E.  Dean 
Huber. 


EVENING 


8:00 — Last  presentation  of  Historical  and  Symbolical  Pageant  at  Illinois-Indiana  Fair  Grounds, 
Danville,  Illinois. 

10:30— Reveille. 


(Ulir  (Jpurnt  ann  iEatba  nf  lienor 


THELMA   BRANDON 
Miss  Vance  Township 


Photo   by   Wirschlng 


ELMA    BLANKENBURG 
Miss  C.  &  E.  I. 

Photo   by   Wirsching 


JEANETTE  SCHUMAN 
Mtss  A.  B.C. 

Photo   by    Wirsching 


AMELIA  RAIMER 
Miss  Kiwanis 


(Uir  (purrn  auft  iHaifls  of  limmr 


MABEL  A.   GRAVES 
Miss  Rotary 


CRETA    STRICKLER 
Miss  Rossville 


Photo  by   Wirsching 


JANE  CHAPMAN 
Miss  D.  H.  S. 


LEONA    DREWS 
Miss  B.  &  P.  It". 


Pboto   by    Winching 


I'll. .t..  by   Si-luill   stuili.i 


®l}t  ((tern  anu  Maiba  of  Inner 


IRIS  KINDER 
Miss  Catlin 


Photo   by   Wirschlng 


BESS  FRENCH 
Miss  Pilot 


Photo   by   Wirschins 


MRS.  RALPH  ELLIOTT 
Miss  Hoopeston 

Photo   by    Wirschlng 


FERN  ATTEBURY 
Miss  Love 


Photo   by    Bowman 


HISTORICAL  AND  SYMBOLICAL  PAGEANT  AS  A  TRIBUTE  TO  THE 
PIONEER.  AND  IN  CELEBRATION  OF  THE  CENTEN- 
NIAL OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS. 

By  EARL  C.  DARFLER 
Pageant  Director 

PROLOGUE 

ARRIVAL  OF  MISS  VERMILION  AND  ATTENDANTS. 

MISS  ROSS,  MISS  BUTLER,  MISS  GEORGETOWN,  MISS  McKENDREE,  MISS 
LOVE,  MISS  DANVILLE,  MISS  GRANT,  MISS  MIDDLEFORK,  MISS  PILOT,  MISS 
ELWOOD,  MISS  OAKWOOD,  MISS  VANCE,  MISS  JAMAICA,  MISS  SIDELL,  MISS 
CARROLL,  MISS  CATLIN. 

ADDRESS  OF  WELCOME— By  Miss  Vermilion. 

"Fellow  Citizens  of  Vermilion  County  and  the  United  States: 

"In  the  name  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  goodly  town,  and  in  honor  of  our  celebra- 
tion this  evening,  I  bid  you  all  a  most  cordial  welcome. 

"Whether  you  were  born  within  its  ancient  boundaries,  interlacing  your  affections 
with  those  with  whom  you  compose  this  incorporated  brotherhood  in  the  great  family 
of  the  Union,  or  whether  you  have  forsaken  your  home,  in  some  foreign  country,  re- 
nouncing all  allegiance  unto  it,  and  having  adopted  this  as  your  earthly  home,  here  to 
abide  as  one  of  its  children  seeking  its  peace  and  its  welfare  as  long  as  God  in  His 
Providence  shall  continue  you  here,  or  whether  you  are  a  native  of  some  other  town, 
city  or  state  and  are  here  present  to  enjoy  with  us  this  celebration  in  the  name  of  the 
County  of  Vermilion,  in  this  city  of  Danville,  I  extend  to  each  and  all  of  you  the 
endearing  address  of  'FELLOW  CITIZENS,'  and  bid  you  welcome  to  Danville." 

ARRIVAL  OF  MISS  COLUMBIA  AND  FORTY-EIGHT  STATES. 

MISS  VERMILION:  "Welcome,  welcome,  Columbia,  and  you,  her  daughters,  FAIR 
United  States.     Welcome  to  Danville  and  the  Historical  Pageant!" 

INTERLUDE  I. 

Father  Time: 

There  time  long  since  has  reaped  and  change  has  wrought, 

Transfigured  pages  in  the  "Book  of  Thought" 

Where  in  recessional  has  passed  away. 

Full  many  a  pageant  in  world's  wild  play — 

Where  king  and  count,  philosopher  and  page, 

Have  passed  to  death  and  dust  from  age  to  age, 

Where  those  pale  pilgrims,  who  were  counted  blest, 

The  shifting  hour  glass  fulfilled  of  rest, — 

We  take  you  back  tonight  upon  the  stage 

That  you  may  read  this  old  colonial  page, 

And,  as  the  leaves  of  centuries  unfold, 

Find  witches,  kings  and  regicides  enscrolled; 

Midst  magistrates  and  Puritans  therein, 

Perchance  some  jester  find  or  harlequin, 

Should  laughter  fail,  not  so  the  living  truth; 

That  keeps  its  words,  archaic  or  uncouth; 

Come  back  with  us,  for  through  its  misty  door, 

With  silent  step  the  past  returns  once  more 

And,  playing  gentle  ghosts,  our  cast  behold; 

Witness  these  scenes  and  hear  their  story  told. 

And  whether  friends,  our  play  shall  please  or  pall, 

We  ask  your  kindly  patience  for  us  all. 


12  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

Father  Time: 

"I  came,  I  know  not  whence,  I  go  I  know  not  whither. 

Eyes  of  things  created  never  upon  my  coming  looked, 

Nor  shall  it  see  my  passing, 

First  and  last  of  all  things  I  for  I  AM  TIME." 

"Look  ye  upon  the  dawning  of  Creation  called  Universe, 

When  out  of  the  chaos,  order  is  brought, 

You  will  see  the  birth  of  Sky,  Flowers,  Lands, 

And  last— M  A  N,  the  RED  MAN." 

EPISODE  I. 

The  Dawning  of  Creation. 

(Note:  Just  as  everything  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  Creation  growing  in  its 
merry  play,  the  voice  of  Man  is  heard.  This  breaks  the  still  harmony  of  Nature  and 
in  gross  confusion  the  Spirits  run  and  hide  under  cover  of  the  Forests.  Symbolic  dances 
of  Nature.) 

The  Coming  of  the  Indian. 

(Note:  This  is  a  typical  band  of  Indians  who  were  found  living  in  small  villages 
and  scattered  in  roving  bands.  Everywhere  the  early  settlers  came  in  contact  with 
these  people.  Extremely  improvident,  they  cultivated  the  soil  very  little  and  depended 
on  the  chase  for  a  livelihood.  Hunting  and  dancing  constituted  their  pleasure.  We 
depicit  a  savage  dance.) 

INTERLUDE  II. 

Father  Time: 

The  Powers  of  the  Forest  and  the  Powers  of  the  River 

Which  menace  them  always,  had  to  be  conquered  and  bent  to  their  will, 

With  danger  encircling,  by  day  and  by  night, 

Here  lit  their  hearth  fires  to  gleam  through  the  years, 

Clear  as  a  beacon  light. 

EPISODE  II. 

Spirit  of  the  Wilderness. 

(Note:  This  is  a  symbolic  dance  representing  the  Spirit  of  the  Wilderness  in  its 
most  playful  mood,  with  the  Powers  of  the  Forest  and  the  Powers  of  the  Rivers,  and 
the  Mist  Maidens,  merrily  dancing  in  the  Forest,  when  the  coming  of  MAN  disturbs 
their  merry  play.) 

The  Pioneer  Man. 

(Note:  This  is  purely  a  symbolical  episode  showing  how  the  Pioneers  conquered 
the  elements.) 

INTERLUDE  III. 

Father  Time: 

Witness  here  ye  day  of  old,  see  their  homes  and  tents  unfold, 
Glad  of  heart  the  record  read,  of  high  courage,  faithful  deed, 
As  men  build  their  home  and  town,  coming  in  from  miles  around: 
Years  of  Growth  and  Power  to  stand, 
A  Goodly  County  in  a  mighty  land. 

EPISODE  III. 
The  First  Settlers  of  Vermilion  County. 

SCENE  I. 
In  September,  1819,  Joe  Barron,  Truman  Blackman,  Lambert  Bona,  Zariah  Cicott, 
and  four  Indian  guides  came  to  the  site  of  the  Saline  and  located  four  miles  west  of 
Danville.  Leaving  here,  they  went  to  Fort  Harrison  where  Truman  Blackman,  trick- 
ster, organized  another  company  and  returned  a  month  later.  They  brought  with  them 
a  kettle  to  test  the  water  in  which  they  found  that  two  gallons  of  water  made  four 
ounces  of  salt.  Truman  Blackman,  George  Beckwith  and  Seymour  Treat  agreed  to  be 
equal  partners.     Peter  Allen  and  George  Beckwith  were  left  in  charge  while  the  rest 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  13 

returned  to  Fort  Harrison.  In  November,  Seymour  Treat  and  family  came  up  the  Wa- 
bash and  Vermilion  rivers,  carried  their  few  belongings  to  the  side  of  the  hill  where  a 
cabin  had  been  prepared.     This  was  the  beginning  of  the  first  settlement. 

INTERLUDE  IV. 

Father  Time: 

On  bare,  horizoned  seas  they  deemed  them  lost, 

So  many  months  wind  driven  and  storm  tossed, 

Across  strange  wastes  each  death  long  day,  moved  by, 

Strange  stars  relentless,  nightly  spared  their  sky; 

Yet  moved  they  on  these  sturdy  pioneers, 

And  held  them  dauntless  against  besieging  fears; 

Found  their  reward,  as  their  old  log  book  reads, 

"A  right  fair  land,"  and  meet  for  all  their  needs, 

A  land  with  wealth  of  furs,  and  treasure  trove — 

Small  wonder  that  Vermilion  Settlers  throve. 

SCENE  2. 
The  Salt  Works. 
The  capacity  of  the  iron  kettles  used  in  the  Salt  works  were  120  gallons.  They 
were  arranged  in  a  double  row,  forty  kettles  in  each  row,  with  rock  placed  closely 
around  each  kettle.  Heat  was  furnished  by  wood,  although  they  had  coal,  but  did  not 
know  that  it  could  be  burned.  They  averaged  180  bushels  of  salt  a  week  and  it  was 
sold  at  SI. 50  a  bushel. 

SCENE  3. 

Father  Kingsbury's  Church. 

Father  Kingsbury  was  preaching  one  Sunday  morning  in  1832,  when  three  refugees 
came  rushing  in,  declaring  the  Indians  were  on  their  heels.  Dan  Beckwith  with  31 
men  started  out.  Later,  the  Vermilion  County  rangers  under  Colonel  Moore,  with  350 
men,  left  without  order  and  were  ordered  home  when  they  reached  Joliet  as  it  was 
found  that  the  Indians  were  about  200  miles  away. 

The  Dance  of  Veils. 
INTERLUDE  V. 
Father  Time: 

Once  on  a  time,  our  academic  ways, 

Were  trod  in  simpler  guise.     In  other  days 

Our  fathers  learned  the  hornbook  and  the  rule, 

They  toed  the  line  or  topped  the  dunce's  stool, 

An  Ancient  dame  presided  as  they  read, 

And  if  they  erred,  her  thimble  rapped  each  head, 

Each  little  girl  a  sampler  made,  in  time 

And  wrought  thereon  her  simple  faith  in  rhyme, 

View  not  these  artless  ranks  with  laughing  scorn, 

Here  was  the  higher  education  born. 

SCENE  4. 
The  First  School. 

The  first  school  taught  in  Vermilion  County  is  said  to  have  been  in  Elwood  town- 
ship. It  was  a  log  school  house  one  mile  west  of  Vermilion  station.  Reuben  Black,  a 
lad  of  eighteen,  came  from  Ohio,  and  in  the  winter  of  1824-25  secured  enough  subscrip- 
tion pupils  to  make  it  worth  his  while  to  open  a  school.  He  taught  one  winter.  John 
Mills  sent  four  children,  three  sons,  and  one  daughter.  Joseph  Jackson,  an  Englishman, 
sent  two  children,  Ezekial  Hollingsworth  sent  four  children,  Henry  Canady  sent  one, 
John  Haworth  sent  three,  making  fourteen  in  all.  The  branches  taught  were  reading, 
spelling,  writing,  and  some  of  the  older  pupils  were  taught  arithmetic.  So  it  was  that 
these  fourteen  children,  Ira,  Millican,  John  and  Rebecca  Mills,  Nathaniel  and  Mary 
Jackson,  Jeremiah,  Miles  Mahunday,  and  John  Hollingsworth,  William  Canaday,  and 
Thomas,  David  and  Elvin  Haworth  were  the  first  children  to  go  to  school  in  Vermilion 
County. 

SCENE  5. 

The  Bucket  Brigade. 

In  the  early  days  the  fire  departments  were  composed  of  volunteer  citizens,  each 
supplying  himself  with  two  buckets  and  a  burlap  sack  to  fight  the  fires  with.  This 
scene  depicts  an  early  time  fire  fight. 


14  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

INTERLUDE  VI. 

Father  Time: 

And  so  a  county  was  born  to  live, 

And  to  this  county  a  name  we  give  VERMILION. 

So  away  with  care,  let  every  heart, 

With  quickened  fervor  glow, 

While  we  brush  the  dust  from  by-gone  years, 

And  bid  the  records  show, 

The  honored  deeds  of  those  who  lived  many  years  ago. 

SCENE  6. 
The  First  Sale  of  Lots. 
The  town  was  laid  out  by  the  county  through  its  commissioners.  Dan  W.  Beck- 
with,  the  county  surveyor,  was  employed  by  the  commissioners  to  run  out  100  lots.  The 
day  of  sale  having  come  around,  a  large  number  of  people  were  collected,  bidding  was 
lively.  Harvey  Luddington,  acting  as  auctioneer,  and  Amos  Williams,  clerk.  Forty- 
two  lots  were  sold  from  which  the  county  realized  §922.87.  The  average  price  was 
$22.00  a  lot.  The  buyers  were  Gerden  S.  Hubbard,  Indian  trader,  George  Haworth, 
first  merchant,  Alvin  Gilbert,  first  tavern  keeper,  Eazekiah  Cunningham,  second  mer- 
chant, Rev.  Kingsbury,  John  Vance,  salt  works,  Jim  Clyman,  white  trapper. 

INTERLUDE  VII. 
Lincoln  Days. 

Father  Time: 

Where  the  Virginia  creeper  softly  falls, 

About  the  porticoes  of  Southern  halls, 

Across  the  floor  colonial  couples  pace, 

And  take  their  graceful  postures  face  to  face, 

They  turn  on  airy  toe  and  turn  on  heel, 

And  dance  night  long  the  gay  ecstatic  reel, 

A  pigeon  wing  each  lightfoot  gallant  turns, 

And  for  a  space  the  polished  floor  he  spurns, 

The  village  beauties,  crimson  flushed  in  face, 

More  breathless  grow,  but  still  dance  on  apace. 

While  through  the  hall,  melodious,  haunting  thin, 

The  wistful  cadence  of  the  violin, 

Makes  mute  the  darkies  gathered  at  the  door, 

Who  smile  to  watch  the  dancers  on  the  floor, 

And  each  thinks  only  with  his  loyal  pride, 

His  mistress  lovelier  than  all  beside. 

This  is  the  ballroom  scene  we  show  tonight, 

Which  still  resounds  with  music  and  delight. 

SCENE  7. 
An  Old-Fashioned  Dance. 

Judge  Davis  came  in  a  buggy  in  1858,  and  the  lawyers,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Spring- 
field; John  Stewart,  Stephen  Logan,  Springfield;  Henry  Whitney,  Urbana;  Oliver  Fick- 
land,  Charleston;  Usher  Linder,  Charleston,  came  on  horseback,  and  held  court. 

This  Episode  represents  an  out  door  court  of  Judge  Davis  in  the  year  of  1858. 

EPISODE  IV. 
The  World  War. 

A  pageant  of  dancers  representing  the  Nations  of  the  World  War. 

United  States,  France,  England,  Italy,  Holland,  Belgium,  China,  Japan,  etc. 

FINALE. 

Parade  of  Entire  Company. 
Pageant  under  personal  direction  of  Earl  C.  Darfler,  of  the  Joe  Bren  Production 
Company,  Chicago. 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  15 


1876-1926 


lilurlr  Jlnr  (Eatuum 


Who   Is   Celebrating   the   Semi-Centennial   of   His    Residence 

In  Danville 


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CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY    ILLINOIS 


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Fac-simile  of  Original  Subscription  List  to  a  Purse  given  to  the 
Three  Commissioners  who  selected  Danville  as  the  Seat  of  Justice  of 
Vermilion  County.  The  Original  is  in  the  Collection  of  the  Wood- 
bury  Family,   Danville,   Illinois. 


CENTENNIAL  Book  OF  VICRMIl.toX  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


17 


Site  (grnems  nf  (1Mb  H  mniltmt 

1826-1926 

By  CLINT  CLAY  TILTON 

-LI- 
THE DARKNESS  OF  THE  NIGHT 


THE  History  of  a  County  that  was 
more  than  two  centuries  in  the  mak- 
ing cannot  be  written  in  a  day,  nor 
can  the  wondrous  story  be  told  as  it  should 
be  in  the  limits  of  a  Souvenir  Booklet. 

It  is  a  Record  of  Romance,  with  tales  of 
treachery,  daring,  suffering,  poverty,  self- 
denial,  perseverance,  patriotism  and  a  con- 
cluding chapter,  as  it  can  be  written  in 
L926,  when  Vermilion  County,  as  a  County, 
has  officially  reached  the  century  mark, 
with  a  proper  happy  ending.  Thriving 
cities  and  towns,  happy  homes  and  busy, 
contented  citizens.  And,  through  it  all  the 
thread  of  Romance  that  makes  the  historic 
scroll  a  gripping  one. 

There  is  Romance  in  the  fact  that  over 
the  land  now  embraced  by  Vermilion  Coun- 
ty have  floated  the  flags  of  three  nations. 
First,  there  was  the  banner  of  Imperial 
France,  by  right  of  discovery  and  explor- 
ation; next  the  flag  of  the  haughty  Briton, 
by  right  of  conquest,  and  then  there  rippled 
in  the  breezes'  the  emblem  of  our  newly- 
confederated  colonies,  also  by  right  of  con- 
quest, for  when  George  Rogers  Clark  and 
his  little  band  of  riflemen  captured  the 
British  Fort  at  Post  Vincennes  in  177'J, 
all  this  territory  became  a  part  of  the  Com- 
monwealth of  Virginia.  And,  according  to 
some  ancient  Spanish  records,  discovered 
at  St.  Louis,  a  few  years  ago,  it  came  dan- 
gerously near  being  under  the  emblem  of  a 
fourth  nation,  when  a  Spanish  army, — 
the  only  one  ever  to  invade  United  States 
soil, — came  here  in  1781  from  St.  Louis 
and  battled  with  the  Kickapoos,  who  at  that 
time  had  a  town  on  the  site  of  the  old  Salt 
Works. 

Tis  a  story  worth  the  telling. 

According  to  the  old  Spanish  Records, 
this  foolhardy  adventure  was  apparently  a 
faint  echo  from  far  across  the  sea  of  a 
great  European  quarrel,  the  war  then  being 
desperately  waged  by  Spain  against  Eng- 
land. In  this  cause  the  isolated  Spanish 
garrison  at  St.  Louis, — the  capital  of  New 
Spain,  had  boldly  determined  to  bear  their 


part  by  a  foray  against  the  British  fort  on 
the  St.  Joseph  River,  in  the  present  state  of 
Michigan.  In  January  of  that  year,  a 
small  band  of  adventurers,  sixty-five  in 
number,  under  command  of  Don  Eugenie 
Peurre,  Don  Carlos  Tayon,  second  in  rank, 
and  Don  Luis  Chevalier,  "a  man  well  versed 
in  the  language  of  the  Indians,"  set  out  to 
capture  the  fort  over  which  floated  the 
hated  British  banner.  Sixty  Indians  from 
various  tribes  also  were  with  the  band. 
Four  hundred  miles  and  more  of  Indian- 
haunted  plain  and  forest  stretched  between 
them  and  their  destination,  while  at  the  end 
of  the  trail  an  enemy  lurked  behind  fortress 
walls  awaiting  their  approach,  whose 
strength  only  could  be  conjectured.  And 
they  were  heavily  laden,  too  with  provi- 
sions, ammunition  and  merchandise,  with 
which  they  hoped  to  buy  their  way  through 
the  lands  of  the  savage  tribes  then  in  close 
alliance  with  England.  This  march,  while 
possibly  in  no  way  intended  at  the  time 
of  its  conception  to  involve  the  struggling 
eastern  colonies,  led  directly  across  Illinois 
territory,  which  already  had  been  won  to 
the  American  cause  by  Clark's  Borden-men, 
and  hence  was  an  armed  invasion. 

Since  it  was  in  the  dead  of  winter  the  lit- 
tle band  dared  not  attempt  the  more  direct 
route  to  the  point  of  attack,  for  no  man 
might  face  the  Grand  Prairie  in  winter  and 
hope  to  survive.  Therefore,  they  followed 
the  streams,  to  have  the  protection  of  the 
forests,  and  came  in  a  northeasterly  direc- 
tion, until  the  "Salines  of  the  Vermilion" 
were  reached.  Here,  according  to  the  old 
records,  the  "army"  remained  three  days, 
two  of  which  were  taken  in  parleying  with 
the  Indians  in  an  effort  to  have  them 
acknowledge  the  sovereignty  of  the  Spanish 
king.  In  this  they  were  unsuccessful,  and 
on  the  third  day  a  battle  was  fought,  in 
which  the  Spaniards  were  worsted  and 
forced  to  withdraw.  Several  cannon  balls 
of  foreign  manufacture,  found  embedded 
in  the  bluff  near  the  old  "Works"  some 
years  ago,  undoubtedly  were  evidences  of 
this  battle. 


IS 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


The  little  army  retreated  in  a  northeast- 
erly direction,  finally  reached  their  destin- 
ation and  surprised  and  captured  the  Brit- 
ish fort,  which  they  sacked  and  destroyed. 
Spring  being  at  hand,  they  retired  to  the 
portage  of  the  Kankakee  river,  where  boats 
were  built,  and  they  floated  down  the  Kan- 
kakee, the  Illinois  and  the  Mississippi 
rivers  to  St.  Louis — and  safety. 

In  the  annals  of  Old  Vermilion  an  Epic, 
but  in  Europe,  far  across  the  sea,  but  a 
Gesture  in  the  Drama  in  which  the  fighting 
strength  of  two  proud  nations  was  in  the 
cast! 

But  the  Land  of  Vermilion,  in  the  Chron- 
icles of  the  Whites,  is  older  than  that.  If 
we  are  to  believe  the  old  mildewed  records 
that  repose  in  vaults  in  France  and  in  Mon- 
treal, which  have  to  do  with  the  story  of 
Old  Kaskaskia  and  also  Fort  de  Chartres 
more  than  two  hundred  years  have  elapsed 
since  the  territory  that  now  comprises 
Vermilion  County  felt  the  tread  of  the 
White  Man.  The  Vermilion  river  was 
known  to  the  French  in  the  Sixteenth 
century,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  "Salines 
of  the  Vermilions"  is  referred  to  in  French 
records  as  early  as  1706.  It  was  then 
on  the  old  Detroit-Kaskaskia  Trail  and 
was  the  half-way  stop  of  the  hardy  French 
peasants  who  journeyed  from  Detroit, 
overland,  to  their  new  home-to-be  at 
Kaskaskia  on  the  Father  of  Waters. 
Much  of  romantic  interest  clusters  about 
the  memory  of  this  old  time  track  from 
Detroit  to  Kaskaskia  across  the  wilderness. 
In  those  far-off  days  of  French  ascendency, 
when  Fort  de  Chartres  was  the  center  of 
French  power  in  the  great  Mississippi  val- 
ley, and  the  commandant  of  the  Illinois 
country  ruled  as  a  little  king,  this  trail 
through  the  old  Salt  Works  witnessed  many 
a     gay     and     glittering     cavalcade.       Here 


passed  fair  maids  and  merry  matrons  of 
France,  not  a  few  in  the  ruffled  petticoat 
and  high-heeled  shoes  of  fashion;  beside 
them  gallant  soldiers  rode  with  bow  and 
smile,  their  lace-trimmed  uniforms  gor- 
geous in  the  sunshine.  Courtiers  of  the 
French  court,  friends  of  the  great  Louis, 
travelled  these  somber  miles  of  wilderness, 
from  Detroit,  through  Vermilion  county,  to 
the  mighty  Mississippi,  and  stopped  and 
rested  on  this  historic  spot — the  half-way 
rest  of  the  Detroit-Kaskaskia  trail — while 
many  an  adventurer,  his  sole  wealth  the 
glittering  sword  at  his  side,  pressed  for- 
ward hopefully  to  his  fate  in  the  West. 
Troops,  travelstained  and  weary,  rested 
here,  on  their  way  to  battle  against  the 
English   outposts  to  the   North. 

Weird  and  uncanny  the  thought  that  this 
historic  spot  in  Vermilion  county  had  been 
a  resting  place  for  the  weary  soldiers  of 
fortune  even  before  the  footprints  of  Boone 
had  rested  in  the  Land  of  Kentucky,  and 
prior  to  the  birth  of  William  Henry  Harri- 
son, "Hero  of  Tippecanoe,"  or  Gurden  Hub- 
bard, whose  "Trace,"  which  began  at  Chi- 
cago and  ended  on  the  Wabash  river,  oppo- 
site Vincennes,  with  its  principal  Post  at 
Danville,  has  been  given  a  place  in  the  his- 
tory of  Illinois. 

A  Land  of  Romance,  this  County  of  Ver- 
milion, in  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Again  in  1750  we  have  a  reference  to 
these  "Salines"  in  Old  Vermilion  in  the 
records  in  Montreal  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers, 
who,  so  say  the  writers,  visited  the  "Sa- 
lines" in  that  year  and  found  the  "largest 
Indian  village  within  a  six-day  journey" 
or  about  120  miles.  It  was  a  village  of  the 
Kickapoos  and  extended  from  a  point  west 
of  the  old  "Salines"  to  within  six  to  eight 
miles  of  where  the  Vermilion  empties  into 
the  Wabash.     It  occupied  both  sides  of  the 


FIRST  TAVERN  IN  VERMILION  COUNTY 
Erected  by  Major  John  W.  Vance  at  the  old  "Salt  Works"  in  1825. 


CENTENNIAL  Hook  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


19 


river  and  the  natives  showed  an  advanced 
state  of  civilization,  some  of  them  having 
rude  cabins  instead  of  wigwams  and  there 
were  small  patches  of  pumpkins  and  corn 
enclosed  with  brush  fences,  which  indicated 
individual  ownership. 

Great  fellows,  those  Jesuit  Fathers,  and 
it  Is  just  possible  that  the  "prayer  sticks" 
used  by  Keannekeuk,  "the  Kickapoo  Proph- 
et," born  in  this  county  in  17H7, — when  he 
formulated  his  creed  and  established  his 
church — Catholic  in  its  weird  ritual  and 
Protestant  in  its  tiresome  sermons — may 
have  been  an  echo  handed  down  from  the 
days  when  the  holy  fathers  labored  to  save 
the  souls  of  the  heathens  who  dwelt  on  the 
banks  of  the  Vermilion. 


AMOS   WILLIAMS 

First  County  Clerk  and  one  of  the  most 
influential  citizens  of  early  Vermilion 
County. 

More  Romance,  but  withal  a  wonderful 
theme  over  which  the  Dreamer  may  ponder. 
A  Jesuit  fanatic, — a  stolid  Indian — and 
eighty  years  later  here  in  Old  Vermilion  a 
new  Religion,  a  new  Creed  and  a  Church. 
Fifty  years  and  the  dawn  of  a  new  century 
— and  once  more  we  have  official  records  of 
the  presence  of  the  white  man  within  the 
territory  of  Old  Vermilion.  This  time  it  is  in 
the  form  of  an  affidavit  and  is  on  file  in  the 
archives  at  Springfield  It  was  made  by 
Joseph  Barron,  for  many  years  Governor 
Harrison's  interpreter  in  his  dealings  with 


the  Indians,  and  in  it  he  avers  that  he 
visited  the  "Salines  of  the  Vermilion"  in 
1801.  and  that  at  that  time  there  was  no 
evidence  of  recent  occupancy  of  the  region, 
and  that  the  cabins  were  in  decay  and  the 
corn  fields  were  overgrown  with  weeds.  He 
had  heard  of  the  salt  springs  in  the  tepees 
of  the  Redmen  to  the  North  and  came  on 
a  tour  of  investigation. 

Romance?  Yes — the  Romance  of  Greed. 
And  when  Greed  conies  the  Pioneer  Settler 
cannot  be  far  behind. 

It  was  in  1812,  when  Old  Vermilion  again 
felt  the  tread  of  the  white  man.  This  was 
when  Col.  Hopkin's  Kentucky  riflemen  came 
through  this  section  expecting  to  join  and 
co-operate  with  Governor  Edward's  column, 
from  Fort  Russell,  near  Edwardsville,  in 
an  expedition  against  the  Indians.  Hop- 
kin's  band  started  from  Fort  Harrison,  on 
the  Wabash,  came  north  through  Edgar 
and  Vermilion  counties,  thence  northwest 
through  Champaign  and  Ford.  Livings- 
ton was  penetrated  as  far  as  the  town  of 
Strawn,  where  the  sight  of  distant  raging 
prairie  fires  caused  the  soldiers  to  mutiny 
and  retreat. 

And  two  years  later,  according  to  the 
letter  of  Isaac  Sodowsky,  Polish  refuge, 
who  arrived  in  free  America  just  in  time 
to  enlist  and  fight  for  his  adopted  home  in 
the  second  war  with  England,  he  was  cap- 
tured by  the  British  and  confined  at  De- 
troit, but  escaped.  In  his  journey  from  the 
prison  pen  to  Kentucky,  he  passed  through 
the  prairie  of  Old  Vermilion  and  was  im- 
pressed with  its  beauties.  The  memory 
lingered  and  in  1828  he  returned  and  pur- 
chased a  farm.  Here  he  reared  a  family 
and  his  bones  now  are  dust  in  the  old 
Butler  Burial  Ground,  near  Catlin. 

More  Romance  in  the  story  of  the  Pole, 
who  so  loved  Liberty  that  he  left  his  home 
and  sailed  the  sea  to  come  to  America  and 
battle  in  our  second  war  for  the  right  of 
self-government,  and  the  freedom  of  the 
seas. 

Four  more  years,  1818!  Uncanny  the 
thought  for  you  who  live  in  modern  homes 
with  electric  lights,  the  telephone  and  daily 
mail,  the  radio  and  the  newspaper,  that 
in  1818,  when  Illinois  was  admitted  to 
statehood,  there  was  not  a  single  white 
man  within  the  boundaries  of  the  present 
County  of  Vermilion,  in  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois. 

But  Pause, — and  Look,— and  Listen!  The 
echo  of  the  ax  of  the  pioneer  in  Indiana 
comes  on  the  breezes.  The  Trail  Blazer 
soon  will  be  treking  into  view.  'Tis  1818 — 
and   Illinois  is  a  State! 


20 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


THE  BREAKING  OF  THE  DAWN 


WOMAN'S  love  of  personal  adorn- 
ment and  man's  craving  for  salt 
were  the  primary  factors  in  the 
early  settlement  of  Vermilion  county.  As 
the  settlers  gradually  came  westward  from 
the  towns  and  farms  of  the  newly  confed- 
erated colonies,  situated  along  the  Atlantic 
coast,  it  always  was  the  blazed  trail  of 
the  fur  trader"  that  they  followed.  While 
it  is  easy  to  associate  the  conquering  of  the 
wilderness  with  the  idea  that  it  was  in- 
spired by  the  religious  zealot,  anxious  to 
carry  the  cross  to  the  wigwam  of  the 
Indian,  it  always  was  the  commercial  ad- 
venturer who  financed  the  operation  and 
organized  the  caravans  to  bear  the  burdens 
of  the  priests.  Close  behind  the  cross, 
sometimes  hiding  in  its  shadow,  came  ruth- 
less men  with  guns,  and  packs  of  trinkets 
and  gewgaws,  intent  solely  on  stripping  the 
savage  of  his  pelts,  either  by  force  of  arms 
or  through  the  ancient  and  honorable  art  of 
barter.  Thus  it  was  that  the  Illinois  coun- 
try came  to  be  known  to  the  folks  back 
East. 

As  early  as  1800  cadets  in  the  employ  of 
John  Jacob  Astor's  American  Fur  Com- 
pany had  trafficked  with  the  Indians  of  the 
Wabash  country,  as  this  section  was  known. 
In  1819  Gurdon  Hubbard,  who  later  was  to 
become  one  of  the  real  factors  in  the  build- 
ing of  Danville,  made  his  first  trading  trip 
to  the  site  of  our  city,  coming  overland 
from  the  Bureau  River  post — now  Henne- 
pin— of  the  American  company.  The  trip 
was  made  in  January,  and  was  most  profit- 
able. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  that  there  was  great 
excitement  in  the  Piankeshaw  town,  then 
located  on  the  present  site  of  Danville, 
those  January  days  when  the  White  Trad- 
ers were  here  exchanging  brilliant-hued 
blankets,  gaudy  calico  and  glittering  beads 
for  the  spoil  of  their  Winter's  trap.  And 
then  there  was  "fire  water,"  too,  that  might 
be  had  in  trade  for  the  skin  of  the  beaver. 
Truly  a  great  day  this,  when  the  White 
Traders  came  to  town.  Tt  is  easy  to  vizual- 
ize  the  picture  of  the  Indian  belles  flitting 
among  the  giant  maple  and  oak  trees  that 
then  covered  the  spot,  vieing  with  one  an- 
other in  the  display  of  their  finery. 

But  Time  goes  on  apace.  The  Winter 
blasts  give  way  to  the  breezes  of  Spring, 
followed  by  the  warmth  of  Summer, — and 
then  the  shorter  day  and  the  twang  in  the 
air  that  gives  to  the  maple  foliage  an 
Autumn  tint  tells  the  Red  Denizens  whose 
tepees  dot  this  spot  that  Winter  will  come 
again.  It  is  Autumn  in  Old  Vermilion.  To 
be  exact,  it  is  September  22,  1819,  and 
there  is  excitement  in  the  village. 


The  White  Men  once  again  are  in  the 
neighborhood,  but  they  have  not  come  to 
trade,  as  they  carried  no  packs,  and  have 
not  sought  their  friendship.  Some  mystery 
here,  and  the  Piankeshaws  are  worried,  as 
also  are  their  friends  and  brothers,  the 
Kickapoos,  whose  village  clutters  the  Flats 
on  the  Middle  Fork,  about  five  miles  from 
its  mouth.  And  their  fears  are  well- 
founded,  for  the  White  Man  has  come  to 
stay. 

It  is  the  party  of  Joseph  Barron,  which 
included  Truman  Blackman,  Lambert  Bona 
and  Zachariah  Cicott,  and  four  Shawnee 
Indians,  who  were  employed  as  guides. 
They  were  seeking  the  "Salines  of  the 
Vermilion"  with  a  view  to  their  exploiting. 
They  were  successful  in  their  quest,  and 
the  party  returned  to  Fort  Harrison.  But 
not  for  long.  Capt.  Blackman  seems  to 
have  been  a  bit  treacherous,  and  without 
the  knowledge  or  consent  of  Barron  organ- 
ized a  second  expedition,  consisting  of  him- 
self, his  brother,  Remember  Blackman, 
George  Beckwith,  Seymour  Treat,  Peter 
Allen  and  Francis  Whitcomb.  And  once 
again  the  "Salines"  were  located.  This  was 
on  the  31st  of  October,  1819. 

They  chose  a  spot  that  was  barren  of 
vegetation  and  here  a  well,  three  feet  deep, 
was  excavated,  and  saline  water  was  pro- 
cured. This  was  boiled  down  in  a  kettle 
brought  along  for  that  purpose,  and  two 
gallons  of  water  produced  four  ounces  of 
clear  salt.  A  deeper  experimental  well 
nearby  was  found  to  yield  a  much  stronger 
brine.  To  these  hardy  adventurers  it 
seemed  that  fortune  was  in  their  grasp. 

It  was  agreed  by  Blackman  that  Treat, 
Beckwith  and  Whitcomb  should  be  equal 
partners  in  the  venture,  each  to  pay  his 
portion  of  the  expenses.  Beckwith  and 
Whitcomb  were  left  in  charge,  and  the 
others  returned  to  Fort  Harrison  for  a 
team,  tools  and  provisions,  with  a  view 
to  operating  on  a  larger  scale.  In  the  lat- 
ter part  of  November  Treat  returned,  com- 
ing up  the  Wabash  and  Vermilion  rivers  in 
a  pirogue,  with  necessary  supplies  and 
bringing  his  wife  and  children. 

A  wife  indeed,  this  Mrs.  Treat,  who  was 
willing  to  follow  her  husband  into  a  wil- 
derness where  her  nearest  neighbor  was 
at  North  Arm  Prairie,  forty  miles  away. 
With  the  aid  of  Beckwith  and  Whitcomb 
a  rude  cabin  was  hastily  erected,  and  into 
this  primitive  shelter  the  family  moved 
and  began  making  it  habitable  to'face  the 
terrors  of  an  Illinois  winter,  harbingers  of 
which  already  were  at  hand.  Thus,  on 
November    27,    1819,    the    first    permanent 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


settler  in  Vermillion  county  moved  into 
his  home. 

In  the  meantime  Blackmail  had  gone  to 
Vandalia  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
the  claim  of  the  company  to  the  Springs. 
But,  ever  a  trickster,  he  made  the  appli- 
cation in  his  own  name  only.  This,  to- 
gether with  complications  regarding  the 
title  of  the  State  to  the  land,  caused  delay, 
and  it  was  not  until  1822  that  a  lease  for 
four  years  was  given,  and  then  only  after 
a  lengthy  hearing  before  Old  Governor 
Bond,  who  finally  managed  to  satisfy  all 
claimants. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  1824,  when 
Major  John  \V.  Vance  came  from  Urbana, 
Ohio,  and  secured  control  that  salt  mak- 
ing became  a  real  industry  and  the  little 
settlement  began  to  thrive.  The  major 
brought  twenty-four  large  iron  kettles  by 
boat  from  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  soon 
afterward  increased  the  number  to  eighty, 
with  a  weekly  output  of  eighty  bushels  of 
salt  of  good  quality.  The  kettles  were 
placed  in  a  double  row  in  a  furnace  con- 
structed of  stone  near  the  springs,  and  the 
salt  was  produced  by  boiling  the  water,  the 
degree  of  fineness  depending  on  the  rapid- 
ity of  evaporation.  Although  an  abundance 
of  coal  lay  uncovered  within  100  feet  of 
the  Works,  wood  was  used  as  fuel  and  was 
the  principal  item  of  expense,  as  three 
men  were  kept  busy  felling  trees  and  haul- 
ing timber  to  keep  the  furnace  fires  going. 
Two  other  helpers  were  employed  in  pump- 
ing and  firing.  The  salt  was  of  a  good 
quality  and  found  a  ready  sale  at  SI. 25  and 
SI. 50  a  bushel,  settlers  coming  on  horse- 
back or  with  slow-going  ox  teams  from  all 
over  the  State  to  procure  it.  Under  the 
management  of  Major  Vance  the  settlement 
took  on  new  life.  Soon  there  were  a  dozen 
cabins,  a  Trading  Post  and  the  Vance 
Tavern,  the  first  "hotel"  to  be  opened  to 
the  public  in  Vermilion  County.  This  was 
in  1825.  Previous  to  its  erection  James 
Wooden  had  conducted  a  boarding  house 
there,  charging  his  regulars  SI. 50  per 
week.  The  Tavern  later  was  moved  to  a 
spot  on  the  old  Danville-Urbana  road  near 
St.  Joseph,  where  Joseph  Kelly  conducted 
it  for  many  years. 

Increased  transportation  facilities  and 
the  discovery  of  the  Sciota  salt  fields  in 
the  Thirties  caused  business  to  slump,  but 
the  Works  were  operated  in  a  small  way 
until  1840,  when  Isaac  Wolfe,  the  lessee, 
abandoned   them. 

Of  the  earlier  settlers  at  the  Works 
none  remained  after  1831,  except  "Mother'' 
Bloss.  whose  chief  distinction  rested  in  the 
fact  that  she  was  the  mother  of  Ruby 
Bloss,  the  first  bride  in  the  territory  now 
known  as  Old  Vermilion.  The  marriage  to 
Cyrus  Douglas  occurred  January  27,   1825, 


when  this  section  was  a  part  of  Edgar 
County.  They  were  married  by  'Squire 
Seymour  Treat,  a  justice  of  the  peace  of 
the  latter  county,  at  his  home  in  Den- 
mark. Major  Vance  removed  to  a  farm  in 
Oakwood  township,  the  Beckwith  boys  had 
moved  to  Danville,  and  Francis  Whitcomb 
and  James  Wooden  were  citizens  of  But- 
ler's Point,  where  their  old  brick  homes 
still  stand.     They  were  erected  in  1845. 

Not  even  a  single  stone  from  the  fur- 
nace remains  to  mark  the  location  of  the 
once  thriving  settlement.  All  is  desolation, 
for  the  historic  acres  have  been  invaded 
by  the  greedy  coal  magnate  with  his  mon- 
ster shovel,  and  once  the  black  diamonds 
had  been  wrested  from  their  hiding  place, 
the  evidences  of  the  vandalism  were  left 
for  Nature  to  cover  with  wildwood  and 
tares.  True  it  is  that  Sentiment  seldom 
is  allowed  to  retard  Progress  or  stand  be- 
tween Greed  and  the  Dollar. 

The  days  were  many  and  the  days  were 
long  for  the  wife  of  Seymour  Treat,  that 
Winter  of  'lil-20  at  the  Salt  Works,  but 
with  the  bursting  of  the  buds  in  Spring 
came  the  cheering  news  that  the  Settlers 
were  on  the  way  and  she  soon  would  have 
neighbors  with  whom  she  might  hold  con- 
verse on  those  topics  dear  to  the  woman's 
heart.  In  the  Spring  Uncle  Jimmie  But- 
ler, a  Vermonter,  came  from  Clark  County, 
Ohio,  to  Old  Vermilion,  and  took  up  a 
claim  near  the  present  site  of  the  town 
of  Catlin.  Here  he  erected  a  cabin,  put  in 
a  crop,  and  that  Fall  returned  to  Ohio. 
The  following  Spring,  he  came  back  with 
his  family  and  made  permanent  settlement. 
His  cabin  stood  on  the  north  side  of  the 
State  road,  and  east  of  the  branch  that 
bears  his  name.  The  spot  became  known 
as  Butler's  Point  and  at  the  time  Vermilion 
county  was  formed  was  the  largest  settle- 
ment, its  only  rivals  being  Higginsville  and 
the  Salt  Works.  Being  a  metropolis  caused 
the  citizens  of  the  Point  to  put  on  airs, 
and  when  the  "Seat  of  Justice"  was  to 
be  located,  so  sure  were  they  that  the  plum 
must  come  to  them  that  no  man  could  be 
found  who  would  donate  the  land  required 
by  the  commissioners.  Even  Old  Uncle 
Jimmie  Butler  refused  to  give  of  his  hold- 
ings for  this  purpose,  and  his  record  is 
one  of  sacrifice  for  public  cause  or  private 
charity.  He  it  was  who  gave  the  first  God's 
Acre,  and  to  make  sure  that  his  bones,  and 
those  of  his  good  wife,  and  those  of  his 
good  friend,  John  Vance  and  his  helpmate, 
and  others  whom  he  loved,  might  rest  un- 
disturbed he  made  the  title  to  the  land  rest 
"in  the  bones  of  those  who  may  find  rest 
here."  Poor,  trusting  Uncle  Jimmie.  'Tis 
true  the  bones  still  rest  undisturbed,  but 
amid  such  surroundings!  In  the  busy  whirl 
of  today  there  is  no  one  to  give  a  thought 


22 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


to  the  old  Butler  Burial  Ground,  and  the 
desolation  of  the  spot  would  bring  a  tear. 
Weeds  and  tares  and  tangled  vines, — with 
the  headstones  fallen— 'tis  not  a  pleasant 
sight  to  see.  It  is  located  west  of  Catlin, 
near  the  railroad  tracks,  but  the  travel 
never  stops  nor  do  the  passengers  give 
thought  to  those  pioneers  who  were  here 
when  Old  Vermilion  was  in  the  making, 
and  to  whom  we  owe  so  much. 

It  wasn't  long  before  Mrs.  Treat  had 
neighbors.  In  1820  Carroll  township  began 
to  be  crowded.  In  1818  "Injun"  John 
Myers  and  his  bosom  friend,  Simon  Cox, 
were  there,  and  two  years  later  witnessed 
the  advent  of  Samuel  Hogg,  Samuel  Mun- 
nell  and  William  Swank  in  the  township. 
John  Haworth  found  a  home  in  what  is 
now  known  as  Vermilion  Grove  the  samt 
year.  Henry  Johnson  has  the  honor  of 
being  the  first  in  Georgetown,  coming  there 
that  year.  And  in  1821  came  the  rush. 
The  population  of  the  territory  now  known 
as  Vermilion  numbered  more  than  200  set- 
tlers. It  was  in  this  year  that  we  wel- 
comed   Henry    Canady    from    North    Caro- 


lina, Benjamin  Brooks  of  Indiana  and 
George  Williams  of  Ohio.  This  same  year 
Kentucky  sent  us  Thomas  O'Neal,  who 
found  a  home  at  Brook's  Point,  and  Mary- 
land contributed  Henry  Martin,  who  finally 
found  permanent  rest  in  Georgetown.  It 
was  in  1822  that  Asa  Elliott  came  and 
made  his  home  at  Butler's  Point.  Here  he 
had  honors  thrust  upon  him  and  had  the 
distinction  of  being  the  first  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  it  was  at  his  house  that  the 
Methodists  organized  the  first  Sunday 
school  in  the  county.  This  was  in  1835. 
And  Asa  was  a  Presbyterian,  too,  which 
shows  that  he  wasn't  narrow, — but  neither 
was  any  one  else  in  the  days  when  Illinois 
was  young  and  Grandfather  was  a  boy. 

Great  days,  those  of  the  early  Twenties, 
right  here  in  Old  Vermilion — that  is,  if  you 
are  not  a  slave  to  modern  conveniences. 

But  Time  goes  on — and  there  are  serious- 
minded  men  down  in  Vandalia  who  are 
wondering  what  will  be  the  conditions 
around  the  "Salines  of  the  Vermilion"  in 
1826. 


THE  SUN  COMES  PEEPING  O'ER  THE  HILLS 


IT  Was  A.  D.  1825  and  Discontent  was 
rife  in  the  territory  now  known  as 
Old  Vermilion.  It  was  the  Day  of  the 
Kicker  and  there  was  sad  need  of  a  Rotary 
Club  or  a  Booster  Band  to  straighten  mat- 
ters. There  were  but  few  who  failed  to 
join  in  the  chorus,  and  even  they  privately 
admitted  that  a  change  might  help.  It  all 
grew  out  of  the  fact  that  more  than  six 
hundred  settlers  now  dwelt  around  the 
neighborhoods  of  The  Works,  Butlers 
Point  and  Denmark  and  on  the  farms  along 
the  banks  of  the  Vermilions,  and  there 
were  three  hundred  more  who  lived  nearer 
these  points  than  they  did  Paris,  which, 
as  the  "Seat  of  Justice"  of  Edgar  County, 
for  judicial  purposes  not  only  included  this 
section,  but  also  all  territory  as  far  North 
as  Lake  Michigan.  It  wasnt  right.  Why, 
not  long  ago,  Marquis  Snow  had  to  walk  all 
the  way  to  Paris  when  he  wanted  his  li- 
cense to  marry  "Uncle  Jimmy"  Butler's 
daughter,  Annis.  It  was  bad  enough  when 
Cy  Douglas  got  his  license,  but  Cy  rode  a 
horse.  What  was  needed  was  a  new  county 
right  here.  This  would  mean  that  some  of 
the  leading  citizens  might  get  an  occa- 
sional job  on  the  grand  jury  and  make  an 
honest  dollar,  too.  No  Sir-ee,  this  section 
wasn't  getting  a  fair  deal.  The  wav  things 
were  going,  there  would  be  a  thousand 
whites  here  by   Spring. 

And    besides,    Paris    never    would    be    a 
town.      Why,    not    long   ago,    the    smartest 


man  in  the  County  had  moved  up  here  and 
now  was  settled  in  a  cabin  at  Butler's 
Point.  Amos  Williams  knew  when  to  leave. 
And  he  had  moved  from  Edgar.  He  knew 
the  truth,  because  he  had  surveyed  it  for 
the  government.  And  Amos  was  smart  in 
other  ways.  He  could  figure  and  was  the 
best  writer  in  the  whole  State  of  Illinois. 
If  Justice  ever  was  meted  out  and  County 
Rights  given  to  this  section  Amos'  ability 
with  the  quill  would  come  in  handy  in  keep- 
ing the  records  straight. 

And  there  was  no  excuse  for  delay  down 
at  Vandalia.  This  section  had  the  popu- 
lation and  the  settlers  had  the  title  to  the 
lands  direct  from  the  Government,  who 
had  secured  it  from  the  Indians  in  a  fair 
manner.  First,  from  the  Piankeshaws  by 
treaty  in  1805,  then  from  the  Pottawato- 
mies  by  the  Treaty  of  St.  Mary's  in  1818. 
then  from  the  Kickapoos  by  the  Treaty  of 
Edwardsville,  in  1819,  and  then  that  same 
year  they  made  it  doubly  secure  by  a  spe- 
cial treaty  at  Fort  Harrison  with  "The 
Chiefs,  Warriors  and  Head  Men  of  the  Tribe 
of  Kickapoos  of  the  Vermilion,"  and  which 
had  among  others  the  signature  of  the 
Christian  Indian,  Keannekeuk,  who  was 
born  right  here  and  still  lives  in  the  town 
North  of  the  "Works."  Of  course,  a  lot 
of  the  Kickapoos  and  Piankeshaws  still 
lived  around  here,  but  that  was  because  the 
settlers  were  good-natured,  and  not  because 
they  had  any  rights. 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  II. I. IN  MS 


23 


Thus  the  pioneers  continued  to  grumble 
until  January  -IK  lsili>.  when  a  courier  ar- 
rived Hum  the  State  Capital  with  the  stir- 
ring news  that  "An  Act  Establishing  Ver- 
milion County"  had  been  approved  two 
days  before. 

Thus  were  the  sturdy  settlers  appeased. 
Great  thing  for  this  section.  Guess  Old 
Ed  Coles  is  a  pretty  good  Governor  after 
all.  Let's  send  him  a  present  of  a  sack  of 
salt  right  fresh  from  John  Vance's 
••Works."  Great  Idea!  This  certainly  is 
a    County    with    a   future! 

The  boundaries  of  the  new  County,  as 
defined  by  the  Enabling  Act,  extended  from 
the  North  boundary  of  Edgar  County  to 
what  is  now   the   South  side  of  Grant  and 


GURDON   SALTSONSTALL  HUBBARD 

Pioneer  Indian  Trader  who  gave  his  name 

to  the  "Hubbard  Trace." 

Butler  townships,  but  it  included  in  itj 
area  what  is  now  the  East  half  of  Cham- 
paign county,  and  for  judicial  purposes  all 
territory  North  as  far  as  the  Kankakee 
river.  Chicago  never  was  in  Old  Yi  i- 
milion. 

In  1833  Champaign  and  Iroquois  coun- 
ties were  formed  and  we  lost  the  territory 
to  the  West,  but  the  Northern  boundarj 
was  extended  six  miles  to  include  (Irani 
and  Butler  townships,  and  for  judicial  pur- 


poses we  had  jurisdiction  over  the  land  now 
known  as  Ford  county,  so  named  in  honor 
of  the  Governor  who  ruled  during  the  Mor- 
mon war,  until   185;*. 

Champaign  county  was  surveyed  by  Ma- 
jor Vance  of  the  Salt  Works  and  for  this 
service  there  was  an  agreed  lee  id'  S'.MIll.llll. 
But  he  never  received  it.  The  Major  was 
a  Dreamer,  and  although  he  was  here  in 
the  days  when  family  fortunes  were  in  the 
making,  and  opportunity  was  not  knock- 
ing, but  pounding,  he  died  poor.  The  only 
heritage  he  left  his  children  was  a  record 
of  public  duty  well  performed.  When  his 
work  was  completed  he  agreed  to  waive  his 
fee  if  permitted  to  christen  the  new  county 
and  give  a  name  to  it's  "Seat  of  Justice." 
Thus  came  into  being  Urbana,  Champaign 
County.  Illinois,  a  counterpart  of  Cham- 
paign County,  Ohio,  where  he  had  wooed 
and  won  Margaret  Rutherford,  his  first 
wife,  and  whom  he  had  left  sleeping  in  a 
hillside  near  Urbana,  in  that  county,  when 
he  moved  nearer  the  Setting  Sun  in  1824. 

A  Strong  Man,  that  fellow  Vance,  and 
one  worthy  of  the  friendship  of  Jimmie 
Butler,  Gurden  Hubbard,  "Doc"  Fithian, 
Amos  Williams,  George  Haworth,  Hezekiah 
Cunningham,  Sylvester  Rutledge  and  a 
score  of  others,  who  came  here  when  His- 
tory was  in  the  making. 

The  first  Commissioner's  Court,  corre- 
sponding to  what  is  now  called  the  County 
Board  of  Supervisors,  was  held  at  the  resi- 
dence of  James  Butler  at  Butler's  Point, 
now  Catlin,  on  March  6,  182G.  It  consisted 
of  two  members,  James  Butler  and  Achilles 
Morgan,  chosen  under  the  Enabling  Act 
for  the  organization  of  the  County.  John 
B.  Alexander,  also  a  Commissioner,  was 
not  present.  After  the  appointment  of 
Amos  Williams  as  Clerk,  the  court  pro- 
ceeded to  the  election  of  Charles  Martin  as 
Constable. 

At  the  next  meeting,  also  at  Butler's 
home,  on  March  18,  the  county  was  divided 
into  two  Townships,  the  dividing  line  being 
the  center  of  Town  18,  the  southern  portion 
to  be  called  Carroll  and  the  other  Ripley 
Township.  William  Reed  was  appointed 
assessor  and  the  first  grand  jury  was  se- 
lected as  follows:  Jacob  Brazelton,  fore- 
man; John  Haworth.  Henry  Canady,  Bur- 
nett Starr.  Robert  Dixon,  John  Cassidav, 
James  McClure,  Alexander  McDonald. 
Henrv  Johnson,  Henry  Martin,  William 
Haworth,  Robert  Trickle.  Isaac  M.  How- 
ard, John  Current,  John  Lamb,  Francis 
Whitcomb,    Amos    Wooden,    Cyrus    Douglas. 

Harvey   Luddington,  George  Beckwith  and 

Jesse    Gilbert,   J.    <>.    Wattles.   Judge. 

The  Court  was  in   session   one  day  only; 
there   was    no    petit    iurv.    and    but    two    in- 
dictments,  William   E.   Douglas  and   (',• 
Swisher,   each    for   assault. 


24 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


It  was  at  this  session  that  the  Commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  Governor  to  select 
the  location  of  the  "Seat  of  Justice"  for 
the  new  County  reported  in  favor  of  a 
location  near  the  "Salt  Works."  This  site 
did  not  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  ma- 
jority of  the  citizens  and  Major  Vance  was 
induced  to  refuse  to  waive  his  rights  to  the 
land  under  his  lease  from  the  State.  A 
second  commission,  consisting  of  William 
Morgan,  Zachariah  Peters  and  John  Kirk- 
patrick,  all  of  Sangamon  County,  after 
viewing  the  Salt  Works,  Brook's  Point, 
Denmark,  Kyger's  Mill  and  Butler's  Point, 
decided  to  accept  the  offer  of  Dan  Beck- 
with  and  Guy  Smith  of  a  tract  of  eighty 
acres,  and  the  town  of  Danville — so  named 
in  honor  of  Dan  Beckwith, — became  the 
"Seat  of  Justice"  of  the  County  of  Ver- 
milion, in  the  State  of  Illinois.  This  was 
January  31,   1827. 

In  the  meantime  the  Commissioners' 
Court  was  still  functioning,  and  at  their 
session  June  5,  1826,  an  order  for  the  pay- 
ment of  SI  was  granted  in  favor  of  Charles 
Martin  for  his  attendance  at  the  March 
term  of  the  Circuit  Court  as  Constable. 
This  was  the  first  money  granted  and  paid 
by  the  County.  At  this  meeting  the  follow- 
ing property  was  made  "subject  to  a  tax 
of  1  per  cent,  viz:  horses  and  cattle  over 
the  age  of  three  years,  watches,  clocks, 
pleasure  carriages  and  stock  in  trade." 

September  4,  1826,  a  new  Commissioners' 
Court  was  organized,  Achilles  Morgan,  Asa 
Elliott  and  James  McClure  having  been 
elected.  At  the  next  meeting,  still  at  the 
home  of  James  Butler,  "William  Reed  this 
day  appeared  in  Court  and  produced  his 
tax  book,  by  which  the  levy  for  the  year 
1826  appears  to  be  S205.59  in  State  paper, 
on  which  he  claims  a  deduction  for  delin- 
quents of  S7.03,  and  also  TVs  per  cent  for 
collecting  (S14.89),  leaving  S183.07,  which 
is  equal  to  S91.83  in  specie." 

Dan  Beckwith,  who  had  given  twenty 
acres  of  the  eighty  which  was  donated  as  a 
site  for  the  new  town,  was  given  the  job 
of  surveying  the  new  metropolis-to-be. 
Amos  Williams,  he  of  the  facile  quill,  was 
made  his  assistant.  And  down  in  the  Dan- 
ville Public  Library,  in  a  room  taken  by 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution 
as  a  Museum  may  be  seen  his  original  plat 
of  Danville,  as  filed  by  him  when  the 
town  was  born.  He  had  dreams  that  his 
Child  would  be  a  River  Town,  and  all  the 
cross  streets  from  Main  led  to  the  Ver- 
milion, Amos  Williams,  who  was  his  helper, 
shared  in  the  delusion,  and  the  old  Williams 
home  was  perched  on  the  bluff  at  the  foot 
of  Clark  street,  where  it  was  hoped  the 
steamboats  from  Louisville,  from  Pitts- 
burgh and  from  New  Orleans  would  land 
their  passengers  and  their  freight.     It  was 


the  first  post  office.  A  shrewd  man  was 
Amos  and  he  never  overlooked  a  chance 
to  turn  advance  information  into  pennies. 
The  plat  of  New  Danville — the  "Seat  of 
Justice"  of  the  County  of  Vermilion — was 
ready,  and  the  Commissioners  solemnly 
announced  that  the  sale  of  lots  would  be 
held  on  April  10,  1827,  and  that  it  should 
be  so  advertised  in  the  "Illinois  Intelli- 
gencer," at  Vandalia. 

And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Town  of 
Danville  was  born  on  tnat  date.  Forty- 
two  lots  were  sold  for  8922.87,  an  average 
of  S22  per  lot.  Harvey  Luddington  was 
the   auctioneer. 

It  was  April  11,  1827,  and  such  settlers 
as  came  to  view  the  site  of  their  purchases 
of  the  day  before  had  small  reason  to  re- 
joice. There  was  not  a  white  habitation 
m  sight.  Even  the  Trading  Post  of  Dan 
Beckwith,  which  was  supposed  to  be  within 
the  confines  of  the  new  Town,  was  hidden 
by  the  bluff,  at  the  foot  of  West  Main 
street,  which  furnished  the  rear  wall  for 
the  shack.  But  not  for  long  did  the  site 
of  the  new  "Seat  of  Justice"  remain  a  bar- 
ren waste.  The  Boom  had  struck  Danville! 
It  was  only  a  matter  of  days  until  the 
sound  of  the  axeman  could  be  heard  as  he 
hewed  the  timbers  that  were  to  make  the 
Tavern  to  be  operated  by  Solomon  Gilbert, 
at  the  foot  of  West  Main  street,  where  the 
Memorial  Monument  now  stands.  He  it 
was  who  has  the  distinction  of  being  Dan- 
ville's first  advertiser,  for  in  September 
of  that  year,  his  sign,  bearing  the  legend, 
"Gilbert  Tavern,"  was  swinging  from  a 
branch  of  a  giant  oak  near  his  log  hostelry, 
and  there  it  swayed  in  the  breezes  for 
many  a  year  after  the  Tavern  had  ceased 
to  function,  a  Monument  to  a  man  who 
had   faith   in    Danville. 

And  down  on  the  Public  Square,  on  the 
site  of  the  present  Daniel  building,  other 
men  were  sweating  in  the  handling  of 
monster  logs,  which  were  used  in  the  erec- 
tion of  the  largest  and  strongest  building 
in  the  new  town.  This  was  where  George 
Haworth  was  erecting  his  Monument  of 
Faith — the  two-story  log  building,  which, 
it  was  understood,  was  to  be  the  stockade 
if  the  Piankeshaws  or  Kickapoos  ever 
went  on  the  rampage.  It  was  of  two 
stories,  the  upper  floor  having  loopholes  for 
defense  and  a  water  supply  was  provided 
for  by  the  sinking  of  a  well  inside  its  walls. 
When  completed  in  the  Fall  of  '27  George 
opened  his  stock  of  merchandise,  which  he 
had  hauled  overland  from  the  boat  landing 
at  Perrysville,  Indiana,  for  the  inspection 
of  the  Whites,  and  Gurdon  Hubbard  util- 
ized the  other  end  of  the  room  for  his  In- 
dian Trading  Post  until  such  a  time  as  his 
new  Store — the  first  frame  building  to  be 
erected  in  the  County,  the  lumber  a  prod- 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


25 


uct  of  Seymour  Treat's  new  sawmill  at 
Denmark, — could  be  completed  on  the  pres- 
ent site  of  the  Palmer  Bank.  Nearby,  on 
the  site  now  occupied  by  the  Woodbury 
Drug  Store  Sheriff  John  Reed  and  his  help- 
ers were  busy  erecting  a  cabin,  which  later 
was  to  be  sold  to  the  County,  for  use  as  a 
Court  House.  And  even  the  County  Com- 
missioners caught  the  building  craze,  and 
their  first  official  act  was  the  letting  of  a 
contract  for  the  building  of  a  "Stray 
Pound,"  on  the  present  site  of  Phillips 
Laundry,  with  a  provision  that  it  should 
"be  made  in  such  a  manner  as  to  keep  out 
hogs."  Phillip  Stanford  was  the  builder 
and  it  cost  the  county  S9.94.  And  Amos 
Williams  was  our  first  poundmaster.  His 
official  duties,  however,  did  not  interfere 
with  the  building  of  a  cabin  on  the  site 
now  occupied  by  the  Herendeen  Bakery, 
where  the  first  public  school  was  held.  And 
there  were  cabins  at  other  spots  around 
the  Town.  Danville  was  building  on 
Faith — and  in  the  early  days  there  were 
none   to   shirk. 

'Twas  a  busy  time — those  waning  days 
of  1827 — here  in  Danville  Town,  and  the 
fact  that  the  Inhabitants  failed  to  establish 
the  Ferry  across  the  Vermilion  until  the 
Spring  "I'  '28  may  be  excused.  Then  it  was 
that  the  Commissioners  granted  to  Samuel 
Gilbert  a  license  to  operate  the  same,  and 
that   he   might   not   take   advantage  of   his 


monopoly,  established  as  lawful  charges: 
For  crossing  man  and  horses,  12%  cents; 
wagon  and  horse,  18%  cents;  wagon  and 
two  horses,  or  oxen,  2.~i  cents.  Persons  go- 
ing to  mill,  half  the  above  rates. 

Honest  Men,  those  County  Commission- 
ers, who  believed  in  shielding  the  public. 
They  not  only  protected  the  Ferry  patrons, 
but  their  records  for  182tj  show  that  when 
Major  John  Vance  applied  for  his  license 
to  operate  a  Tavern  at  "The  Works,"  they 
established  the  following  prices:  Pint  or 
half -pint  whisky,  12  V2  cents;  quart  of 
whisky,  25  cents;  single  horse  feed,  (i '  i 
cents;  lodging,  6U  cents;  meal  of  victuals, 
ls:4  cents;  horse  at  corn  and  hay  over 
night,  1834  cents.  The  following  year,  it 
is  gravely  stated  in  their  records,  "one 
Whiteomb  appeared  and  explained  that  if 
a  pint  of  whisky  was  worth  12y2  cents,  a 
half -pint  should  cost  but  6%  cents."  It 
was  so  ordered,  and  to  encourage  the  buy- 
ing of  larger  quantities,  the  price  of  a 
quart  was   reduced  to   18%   cents. 

Great  days,  those  of  '27  here  in  Danville, 
when  rattlesnakes  abounded  and  malaria 
was  a  common  ailment ! 

The  waning  days  of  1827  were  here,  and 
much  History  had  been  written.  The 
County  of  Vermilion  was  now  a  Unit  of 
a  Sovereign  State  and  Danville  was  its 
Capital. 


THE  SUN  IS  IN  THE  HEAVENS 


IT  was  Christmas  Day,  1835,  and  the 
Town  of  Danville  was  eight  years  old. 
Ordinarily  it  would  have  been  a  festal 
day,  lor  the'erops  of  the  Settlers  had  been 
bounteous  and  now  were  safely  garnered. 
The  Town  was  thriving,  too,  and  housed 
six  hundred  and  odd  white  inhabitants, 
while  Old  Vermilion,  by  the  recently  enume- 
rated census  by  the  Government,  had  a 
white  population  of  8,103.  There  was  no 
cause  for  complaint — yet  Danville  mourned. 
Dan  Beckwith,  in  whose  honor  the  town 
was  christened,  lay  cold  in  death  in  his 
cabin  in  West  Main  Street.  Pneumonia 
was  the  cause.  Dr.  L.  Trabue,  who  had  re- 
moved here  from  Butler's  Point  in  '28,  bat- 
tled bravely,  but  his  efforts  were  unavail- 
ing. Dan,  who  had  faced  the  perils  of  the 
wilderness,  had  courted  death  in  Indian 
warfare  and  had  endured  the  hardships 
and  hazards  of  the  primitive  life  of  the 
border  was  now  no  more.  And  down  in 
the  cabin  beside  the  body,  sat  a  tear-stained 
woman,  to  whom  the  travail  that  is  the 
penalty  of  motherhood  soon  must  come, 
while  bv  her  side  were  the  two  children 
who  had  already  blessed  their  union.     One 


of  these,  Little  Hiram,  was  destined  later 
to  become  a  law  pupil  of  the  Great  Lincoln, 
an  able  lawyer  and  the  foremost  authority 
in  the  matter  of  the  early  history  of  Illi- 
nois. He  also  wrote  a  "History  of  Ver- 
milion County"  which  ever  has  been  a 
model  for  the  Chroniclers  of  Tales  of  the 
Early  Days.  But  to  Dan  had  come  the 
peace  that  must  follow  one  who  had  lived 
the   Golden    Rule. 

And  all  Danville  mourned.  Jim  Clyman, 
hunter  and  fisherman  for  sheer  love  of  the 
kill,  sometime  partner  of  Dan  in  his  Trad- 
ing Post  in  the  "Hole  in  the  Hill,"  and 
whose  boast  it  was  that  razor  never  had 
touched  his  face  nor  shear  snipped  at  his 
flowing  hair,  armed  with  pick  and  shovel, 
wended  down  to  the  Old  Williams  Burying 
Ground  and  dug  a  grave  in  the  frozen  soil. 
There  were  other  willing  hands  to  help,  but 
Jim,  with  the  Soul  of  a  Poet,  wanted  in 
this  way  to  pay  last  tribute  to  his  Friend. 

And  over  in  Leander  Rutledge's  furni- 
ture factory  there  was  no  thought  of 
Christmas  cheer  as  he  and  his  three  help- 
ers hastily  fashioned  the  walnut  coffin, 
using  for  the  occasion  the  seasoned  timber 


26 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


he  had  been  saving  for  the  new  furniture 
to  be  made  for  Dr.  William  Fithian,  whose 
residence,  built  to  house  his  Ohio  bride  of 
four  years  before,  was  the  show  place  of 
the  Town. 

Two  days  later  the  body  was  laid  to 
rest  in  its  snow  lined  grave,  after  religious 
services  by  gentle  Father  Kingsbury,  who 
had  come  to  Old  Vermilion  as  a  mission- 
ary among  the  Indians  and  had  remained 
to  carry  on  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
congregation,  assisted  by  Rev.  James 
McKain,  pioneer  Methodist,  who  braved  the 
storms  to  come  from  his  home  in  Blount. 
And  there  were  others  from  the  surround- 
ing towns  and  farms  to  do  him  honor. 
There  were  those  in  the  mourning  assem- 
blage whom  Dan  had  aided  in  time  of 
stress;  there  were  those  with  whom  he  rode 


FATHER  ENOCH  KINGSBURY 
Early   Presbyterian    Missionary   to   the   In- 
dians and  Beloved  Pastor  of  early 
Danville  Presbyterian  Church. 

when  the  Vermilion  Rangers — fifty  strong 
— under  command  of  Achilles  Morgan,  has- 
tened to  the  aid  of  Chicago  when  the  Win- 
nebagos  threatened  in  '27;  there  were 
other  comrades  who  were  with  him  when 
he  hurried  on  an  hour's  notice,  toward  the 
firing  line,  when  the  hatless  refugee  from 
Rock  river  burst  in  upon  Rev.  Kingsbury's 
services  with  a  call  for  rescue  from  the 
tomahawks  of  Black  Hawk  and  his  Sacs  in 
'32.  Thirty-one  there  were  in  this  little 
band,  and  Dan  had  been  their  Captain.  And 
in  the  concourse  were  all  the  veterans  of 
the  davs  of  '27  and  '28 — yes,  all  except 
one.  Gurdon  Hubbard,  pioneer  trader,  was 
missing.  He  was  now  in  Chicago,  where 
he  moved   in   '33,   after  his   failure  in   the 


conduct  of  a  "White  Man's  Store"  when 
there  was  no  need  of  the  Trading  Post 
after  the  Indians  were  removed  to  their 
reservation  farther  West  in  1831  and  '32. 
He  had  disposed  of  his  building  and  stock 
to  his  brother-in-law,  Dr.  Fithian,  and  re- 
moved to  the  smaller  town,  where  he  lived 
long  and  prospered.  There  in  the  bleak 
clearing  which  was  Danville's  first  ceme- 
tery, and  is  now  the  site  of  many  homes, 
these  sturdy  men  and  women  faced  the  icy 
blasts  while  Father  Kingsbury  breathed  a 
prayer,  and  the  frozen  clods  filled  the 
crypt. 

Dan  Beckwith  is  no  more.  His  bones  are 
dust,  but  his  good  sword  still  may  be 
seen  in  the  D.  A.  R.  Museum,  and  the  Town 
he  fathered  is  still  carrying  on.  Peace  to 
his  ashes.     He  builded  better  than  he  knew. 

At  the  time  of  Dan  Beckwith's  passir,, 
the  Town  had  indeed  made  advancement. 
In  1828,  Murphy  &  Cunningham  had 
erected  their  two  story  store  on  the  present 
site  of  the  Martin  block.  The  lower  floor 
was  used  as  their  salesroom  and  the  second 
story  was  a  public  hall  and  the  scene  of 
Rev.  Kingsbury's  sermons  on  Sunday.  A 
government  land  office  had  been  established 
in  '31,  and  Samuel  McRoberts,  afterward 
United  States  Senator,  had  come  to  be  Re- 
ceiver of  Public  Moneys.  George  Scar- 
borough &  Brother  had  opened  their  em- 
porium that  same  year.  The  following  year 
McDonall  &  Rolliston  put  up  the  first  brick 
business  room  on  the  southwest  corner  of 
Main  and  Hazel  streets,  which  for  many 
years  was  occupied  bv  the  brewery  and 
drinking  hall  conducted  by  "Citizen"  Smith, 
and  during  the  winter  following  the  Mexi- 
can war,  was  the  loafing  place  of  Gen. 
James  Shields,  noted  for  having  challenged 
Abe  Lincoln  to  a  duel  and  also  as  the  only 
man  who  ever  was  chosen  as  a  United 
States  Senator  by  three  states — Illinois, 
Missouri  and  Minnesota.  The  demand  for 
"hard  liquor'  also  was  well  taken  care  of 
bv  the  distillery  of  W.  D.  Palmer  and  Peleg 
Cole,  established  in  1830  on  the  site  now- 
occupied  by  the  residence  of  Will  Harts- 
horn, Sr.,  in  North  Vermilion  Street,  and 
the  output  was  further  increased  in  1833, 
when  Henrv  Froman  came  to  town  and 
opened  a  still  house  on  Brady's  Branch. 
Froman  also  built  the  first  flatboat  to  carry 
freight  to  New  Orleans.  This  was  in  '34. 
The  opening  of  the  Government  Land 
Office  caused  a  demand  for  more  hotels, 
and,  in  '32,  Sam  J.  Russell  began  the  erec- 
tion of  what  was  afterwards  known  as  the 
Pennsylvania  House.  It  was  completed  in 
'35,  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  Kresge's 
Ten  Cent  Store,  and  contained  a  ball  room 
in  addition  to  other  apartments.  Jesse  Gil- 
bert b'lilt  the  McCormick  Tavern  in  1833, 
and   this   hostelry   under   the    William    Mc- 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


27 


Cormick  management,  and  later  under  that 
of  R.  A.  Martin,  was  to  have  nation-wide 
fame  as  the  headquarters  of  Lincoln,  Judge 
Davis  and  other  attorneys  who  traveled 
the  Old  Eighth  Circuit.  It  stood  just  west 
of  the  present   Hotel   Lincoln. 

Dan  had  lived  to  realize  his  ambition.  In 
1833,  the  county,  having  sold  the  log  court 
house  to  Hezekiah  Cunningham,  voted  to 
build  a  new  one.  It  was  of  brick,  fifty 
feet  square,  two  stories  high,  and  stood 
on  part  of  the  site  of  the  present  building. 
The  lower  floor  contained  but  one  room 
and  was  used  for  court  purooses,  while  the 
upper  floor  was  divided  into  four  rooms, 
for  use  of  visiting  jurors  and  others.  The 
various  county  officials  had  their  offices  in 
different  buildings  around  town,  generally 
in  their  homes.  Gurdon  Hubbard  was  the 
contractor,  Thomas  Durham  did  the  build- 
ing and  the  brick  came  from  Norman  Pal- 
mer's yard  on  the  present  site  of  John  L. 
Tincher's  residence  in  Logan  Avenue.  It 
was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1872. 

In  1828  Robert  Trickle  built  a  water 
power  grist  mill  to  the  left  at  the  end  of 
Main  street,  which,  on  completion  he  sold 
to  Solomon  Gilbert,  who  two  years  later 
entered  into  competition  with  Seymour 
Treat  at  Denmark,  by  adding  a  saw  mill. 

Yes,  Dan  Beckwith  was  with  his  fathers, 
but  the  Town  continued  to  grow.  Two 
years  later — in  1837— when  J.  M.  Peck, 
author  of  a  "Gazetteer  of  Illinois,"  visited 
the  Town  he  found  seven  hundred  people, 
fourteen  stores,  three  groceries,  three  tav- 
erns, five  lawyers,  six  physicians  and  a 
printing  office,  which  issued  the  "Danville 
Weekly  Enquirer,"  our  first  newspaper. 
The  Methodists,  Baptists  and  Presbyte- 
rians each  had  congregations  "and  the 
schools  were  adequate  and  excellent." 

While  Danville  was  making  progress  it 
was  a  matter  of  satisfaction  that  the  rest 
of  the  County  was  keeping  step.  Rossville 
was  now  a  thriving  hamlet.  Marysville,  in 
Fremont  (now  Middlefork)  township,  was 
increasing;  Higginsville,  the  original 
"boom"  town,  was  still  on  the  map;  Myers- 
ville,  with  Peter  Chrisman's  mill,  had  as- 
pirations; Butler's  Point  was  really  put- 
ting on  airs;  Georgetown,  where  Ben  Can- 
naday  opened  the  first  dry  goods  store,  was 
growing,  and  Ridgefarm,  largely  settled  by 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  was  a 
substantial  settlement.  Old  Chillicotha, 
near  which  the  Weavers,  the  Baums  and 
the  Sodowskys  had  settled,  was  enjoying 
a  healthy  growth,  and  even  Grant  town- 
ship, which  boasted  no  towns,  reported  that 
many  settlers  were  coming  in  since  John 
Bean  had  the  distinction  of  being  the  first 
in   1830. 

Eighteen  Thirtv-seven  and  still  making 
progress.     John  W.  Vance  was  in  the  State 


Senate  and  Dr.  William  Fithian  in  the 
House.  Internal  improvement  had  become 
a  mania  with  the  lawmakers.  We  must 
have  railroads!  All  that  was  necessary 
was  to  grant  charters  and  authorize  a  bond 
issue.  And  thus  the  session  merrily  went 
on.  But  Vance  and  Fithian  were  hard 
headed.  They  apparently  were  opposed  to 
this  riot  of  expenditure — and  the  men  who 
wanted  the  Illinois  Central,  the  Alton  and 
the  Vandalia  needed  votes.  They  were  will- 
ing to  trade.  Out  of  all  this  speculation 
came  definite  propositions.  If  Vance  and 
Fithian  would  support  their  measures  they 
would  vote  that  the  bond  issue  for  the 
Northern  Cross  Railroad,  running  from 
the  Illinois  river  to  Danville,  should  be  is- 
sued first,  and  furthermore,  as  soon  as 
the  bonds  should  be  sold,  work  should  begin 
from  each  end.  Thus  it  was  that  the  North- 
ern Cross  came  into  being.  The  measure 
passed.  The  bonds  were  sold,  and  grading 
began.  The  road  was  completed  from 
Meredosia  to  Springfield  and  the  grading 
and  installation  of  bridges  from  Danville 
to  the  Champaign  county  line  was  fin- 
ished before  the  crash  came.  The  State 
tried  the  experiment  of  running  trains  on 
the  completed  line  between  Meredosia  and 
Springfield  until  1847,  when  it  was  sold  to 
Nicholas  H.  Ridgely,  for  S21,100.  Thus 
ended  the  experiment  in  Illinois  of  State 
Ownership  of  Railroads.  Danville  was 
without  a  railroad  but  the  grading  and  the 
bridges  were  ready  for  the  commercial  ad- 
venturer. 

It  was  the  year  1840,  and  the  Census 
Man,  appointed  by  the  Government,  said 
there  were  9,303  people  in  Old  Vermilion, 
and  this,  too,  in  spite  of  the  exodus  of 
some  of  the  Mormon  converts  of  Orson 
Pratt,  in  Newell  and  Blount  townships,  who 
followed  their  leader  to  Independence,  Mo. 
The  County  Seat  was  beginning  to  be  citi- 
fied. Some  of  the  stores  were  putting  up 
wooden  awnings  and  others  had  hitch- 
racks  in  front  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  country  trade.  The  years  kept  rolling 
on.  Eighteen  Forty-five  and  there  were 
rumors  of  a  war  cloud  on  the  Mexican  bor- 
der. The  Whigs  were  against  it.  Dan 
Clapp  in  his  "Danville  Patriot"  said  so. 
He  also  printed  over  the  signature  of  Isaac 
R.  Moores,  Postmaster,  who  had  com- 
manded the  Illinois  Rangers  when  they 
served  in  the  Vermilion  Battalion  in  the 
Black  Hawk  War,  that  mail  would  arrive 
from  Lafayette,  on  Tuesdays.  Thursdays 
and  Saturdays;  from  Decatur,  Wednesdays 
and  Saturdays;  from  Paris,  Tuesdays, 
Thursdays  and  Saturdays;  from  Chicago, 
on  Saturdays;  from  Pittsburg,  on  Satur- 
days. 

And  then  in  '46  came  the  War  with  Mex- 
ico.    Vermilion  County  was  against  it — but 


28 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


the  Flag  was  under  Are!  Partisanship  was 
forgotten.  Ike  Moores  offered  to  resign  his 
job  and  organized  a  company,  with  Dr. 
Theodore  Lemon  as  first  lieutenant.  But 
more  troops  were  offered  than  the  Govern- 
ment would  accept,  and  Old  Governor  Ford 
refused  to  give  them  a  chance  to  show  their 
valor  because  Old  Vermilion  had  been 
against  him  in  the  election.  But  why 
worry.  It  started  as  a  "Democratic"  War 
and  it  made  "Old  Rough  and  Ready" 
President. 

And  all  this  time  Dan  Beckwith's  Town 
was   growing. 

The  Pennsylvania  Tavern  had  changed 
its  name  to  the  National  Hotel  and  Othiel 
Gilbert  was  the  host,  L.  R.  Noel  had  a  new 
hotel  in  East  Main  street  and  the  McCor- 
mick  Tavern  was  still  doing  business  under 
the  management  of  R.  A.  Martin;  E.  F. 
Palmer  &  Co.  had  the  leading  drug  store, 
although  Dr.  James  Sconce  and  his  newly 


acquired  partner,  Dr.  W.  W.  R.  Wood- 
bury, in  a  room  on  the  site  where  the 
Woodbury  store  still  serves  the  public, 
was  making  a  strong  bid  for  patronage; 
W.  I.  Moore  &  Co.,  Jones  &  Culbertson  and 
J.  Peters  were  offering  mixed  stocks;  and 
W.  A.  Bailey  &  Co.  offered  lower  prices  at 
their  store  down  in  Georgetown,  on  the 
Georgetown  and  Perrysville  Plank  Road, 
the  first  paved  highway  West  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  Truly,  the  man  who  had  his  home 
in  Danville  or  his  farm  in  Old  Vermilion 
in  1850  had  made  a  wise  investment. 

It  was  Christmas  Day,  1850.  For  fif- 
teen years  the  bones  of  Dan  Beckwith,  who 
gave  his  name  to  our  "Seat  of  Justice," 
had  been  moldering  in  the  grave,  but 
Twenty  Centuries  had  passed  since  the 
Son  of  the  Creator  of  All  gave  His  life  on 
Calvary, — and  all  this  time  the  waters  had 
been  rippling  down  the  Vermilion,  which 
gave  the  name  to  the  County,  in  their  race 
to   the   sea. 


DARK  CLOUDS  OBSCURE  THE  SUN 


NEW  Years  Day,  1850.  The  Govern- 
ment Census  Man  showed  that  the 
population  of  Old  Vermilion  in  1850 
was  11,402,  and  from  all  parts  of  the 
County  there  were  rosy  reports  of  im- 
proved conditions  of  living.  New  roads 
were  being  laid  out  and  the  old  ones  made 
more  passable.  The  fields  were  being 
fenced  and  the  frame  house  was  displacing 
the  log  cabin  in  many  places.  Most  of  the 
land  had  been  taken  up  by  actual  settlers, 
and  there  were  but  few  large  tracts  under 
single  ownership,  the  exceptions  being  the 
Hoopes  tract  in  Grant;  the  Mann  estate  in 
Ross,  John  Smith's  (English)  and  John 
Goodwine's  in  Middlefork;  the  Daniel  Fair- 
child  holdings  in  Blount;  the  W.  I.  Moore 
farms  in  Pilot;  the  broad  acres  of  John 
Sidell  and  Joseph  M.  Sullivant  in  Sidell,  and 
the  collective  possessions  of  the  Sodowsky 
brothers  in  Carroll. 

School  houses  now  dotted  the  County  in 
sufficient  number  for  the  actual  needs  of 
the  Settlers,  and  for  the  most  part  were  in 
charge  of  competent  teachers, — a  marked 
improvement  over  conditions  in  1824,  when 
Reuben  Block  wielded  the  birch  in  his  little 
hut  in  Carroll  township  and  Hiram  Tich- 
ner  gave  meager  instruction  in  the  cabin 
situated  midway  between  the  Salt  Works 
and  Butler's  Point,  or  three  years  later 
when  Norton  Beckwith  taught  his  twelve 
pupils  in  George  Haworth's  smoke  house  in 
Danville.  It  was  in  1850  that  the  Dan- 
ville Seminary  was  founded,  the  building 
being  ei-ected  in  West  Main  street.     At  its 


inception  contributions  were  solicited  from 
all,  but  once  it  was  established  it  was  run 
as  a  closed  corporation  and  none  but  tried 
and  true  Methodists  were  allowed  either  on 
the  Board  of  Trustees  or  as  Teachers.  This 
caused  bitterness,  and  two  years  later  the 
Presbyterians  organized  a  corporation  and 
established  the  Union  Seminary,  the  build- 
ing being  erected  on  the  present  site  of 
Judge  E.  R.  E.  Kimbrough's  home.  The 
rancor  developed  over  the  episode  finally 
resulted  in  the  famous  slander  suit  insti- 
tuted by  Dr.  William  Fithian  against 
George  W.  Cassidy,  in  the  trial  of  which 
Lincoln  and  Oliver  L.  Davis  were  attorneys 
for  the  former.  It  resulted  in  a  verdict  of 
8556  in  favor  of  the  doctor,  and  the  next 
Spring  the  Fighting  Cassidy  insisted  on 
listing  "Dr.  Fithian's  Character"  as  a  tax- 
able asset,  claiming  he  had  bought  it  for 
$556. 

Best  of  all  Churches  began  to  dot  the 
County  in  sufficient  number  to  give  the 
moral  teaching  necessary  to  the  growing 
County.  Many  of  these  congregations 
sprung  up  in  the  country  districts,  in  the 
building  of  which  Father  Enoch  Kingsbury, 
Presbyterian;  Rev.  James  Ashmore,  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian;  Rev.  James  McKain, 
and  Rev.  George  W.  Pate,  Methodist,  did 
yeoman  service.  The  Baptists  really  were 
the  pioneers  in  religious  work  in  the  Coun- 
ty, but  it  was  not  until  later  that  they  had 
much  official  strength.  It  was  under  Bap- 
tist auspices,  in  1831,  that  Keannekeuk, 
"the  Kickapoo  Prophet,"  delivered  his  ser- 
mon to   Danville,  to  a  joint  assemblage  of 


CENTEX  MA  I.  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 


29 


his  own  congregation  and  the  members  of 
the  local  Baptist  church.  It  was  given  in 
Kickapoo  and  translated,  sentence  by  sen- 
tence, as  delivered,  by  Guidon  Hubbard, 
and  written  out  by  Sol  Banta,  the  Town 
Lawyer.  It  afterwards  was  published  in 
the  Illinois  Magazine  at  Vandalia.  The 
Society  of  Friends,  down  in  Elwood,  had 
organized  in  that  township  as  early  as 
1823,  and  the  following  year  erected  the 
best  constructed  cabin  in  Vermilion  Grove 
as  a  place  of  worship.  There  was  no  regu- 
lar minister  but  George  Haworth  acted  as 
leader.  It  was  not  until  1852  that  the 
Catholics  were  organized.  In  that  year 
Father  Rhian  came  to  Danville  and  held 
services  in  a  building  near  the  present  site 
of  the  Big  Four  station.  In  1858  they 
built  the  brick  church  that  still  is  in  ser- 
vice at  the  corner  of  Green  and  College 
streets. 


WARD   HILL   LAMON 
Local  Law  Partner  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
afterward  his  personal  bodyguard  dur- 
ing the   war   between   the   States. 

It  was  well  for  the  future  of  Old  Ver- 
milion that  Education  and  Religious  Train- 
ing were  coming  to  the  fore,  as  an  anti- 
dote to  the  rancor  and  minor  hatreds  that 
were  beginning  to  engender  among  the 
Settlers.  In  the  earlier  day,  common  needs 
had  cemented  them  together,  but  with  im- 
proved living  the  selfishness  that  is  the 
heritage  of  all  began  to  manifest  itself  in 
petty  bickerings  and  open  feuds.  First, 
there  was  the  matter  of  the  change  in  the 
official  management  of  the  County.  In 
1850  Old  Vermilion  adopted  the  Township 
Organization  and  instead  of  electing  three 
Commissioners  to  conduct  the  affairs,  eight 
Supervisors, — one  from  each  of  the  eight 
townships   at   that   time,    Ross,    Middlcfork, 


Pilot,  Newell,  Elwood,  Carroll,  Georgetown 
and  Danville — were  elected  as  the  Govern- 
ing Board.  In  the  main  the  change  was 
satisfactory,  but  there  was  a  fighting  mi- 
nority, and  matters  smoldered  until  1857, 
when  an  election  was  held  to  vote  on  a 
proposition  to  divide  the  county.  It  lost — 
252  to  36  votes,  but  in  1859,  when  the  prop- 
osition came  up  to  establish  Ford  County, 
this  carried  287  to  48. 

The  question  of  Slavery  was  another 
bone  of  contention.  Old  Vermilion  was  set- 
tled largely  by  pioneers  from  the  South 
and  from  New  England,  and  in  that  day 
it  would  have  been  hard  to  find  two  ele- 
ments less  antagonistic.  Politics  were  rife 
and  Slavery  and  States  Rights  were  the 
Issues.  The  establishment  of  Dan  Clapp's 
"Patriot," — Whig  to  the  core — and  J.  flol- 
lingsworth's  "Citizen" — equally  enthusias- 
tic for  Jackson  Democracy, — added  to  the 
discord.  It  was  at  this  time  that  party  or- 
ganizations were  formed  and  the  elections 
of  1850  were  the  last  at  which  the  County 
candidates  ran  on  their  merits.  From  that 
time  they  were  found  under  the  party  label. 

Old  Vermilion  was  pro-Whig  and  this 
may  account  in  some  measure  for  the  pop- 
ularity of  Abram  Lincoln,  who  even  before 
1850  had  attended  Court  here,  coming  along 
with  Judge  Stuart,  Orlando  Ficklin,  Usher 
P.  Linder,  and  a  dozen  more  who  regularly 
attended  the  sessions  in  Danville.  They 
would  come  into  Town,  from  Urbana,  along 
in  the  afternoon,  and  put  up  at  the  Old 
McCormick  Tavern,  where  a  crowd  was 
sure  to  be  on  hand  to  welcome  them.  In  a 
letter  Judge  Davis  testifies  to  Lincoln's  pop- 
ularity, and  says  there  were  sessions  of  the 
Court  here  when  the  "Rail  Splitter"  would 
appear  on  one  side  or  the  other  in  every 
case  on  the  docket.  Doubtless  that  was 
the  reason  of  his  local  partnership  with 
Ward  Hill  Lamon — champion  wrestler,  ar- 
dent drinker,  learned  in  law  and  a  demon 
in  physical  combat — in  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  in  their  office  in  the  Barnum 
building,  on  the  present  site  of  the  First 
National  Bank. 

"Ward  Hill  Lamon:  His  Life  Story!" 
What  a  theme  for  the  pen  of  some  man 
with  the  gentleness  of  Father  Enoch  Kings- 
bury, the  wonderful  command  of  descrip- 
tive words  and  poetic  phrases  of  "Uncle 
Bill"  Jewell  and  the  cold  power  of  analysis 
of  "Uncle  Joe"  Mann!  Ward  Hill  Lamon, 
the  one  man  whom  the  Immortal  Lincoln 
trusted  more  than  any  other,  and  who  later 
was  the  chrony  and  boon  companion  in 
many  a  drinking  bout  of  'Gene  Field,  the 
"Poet  of  Childhood,"  and  who  spent  the 
years  of  his  young  manhood  as  a  member 
of  the  old  Danville  bar  in  the  davs  of 
Judge    E.    S.    Terry,    Judge    Oliver    Davis, 


30 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


Colonel  Oscar  F.  Harmon,  who  died  a  hero 
at  Kennesaw  Mountain;  John  J.  Brown, 
who  later  was  to  be  a  leader  of  the  Chicago 
bar;  Judge  John  Pearson,  who  dared  to 
flaunt  the  authority  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
because  he  believed  himself  in  the  right; 
Isaac  P.  Walker,  who  later  was  to  be  United 
States  Senator  from  Michigan  and  Major 
R.  W.  Hanford,  who  had  his  baptism  of 
fire  in  his  three  years  army  service  and 
returned  to  add  to  his  laurels  as  a  lawyer. 

A  Fine  Old  Scout — Ward  Hill  Lamon: 
A  Good  Lawyer,  a  Loyal  Friend  and  a  Gen- 
tleman Who  Could  Hold  His  Liquor! 

It  was  in  October,  1857,  that  Danville 
came  into  its  own  and  was  assured  of  its 
future.  This  was  when  the  first  train, 
drawn  by  the  engine  christened  "the  Pion- 
eer," came  tooting  into  town.  This  was  an 
echo  of  the  financial  orgy  of  the  Legislature 
of  '37,  when  charters  were  issued  to  any 
who  would  apply  and  it  was  believed  that 
bond  issues  might  be  authorized  without 
thought  of  the  day  of  reckoning  when  the 
obligations  might  come  due.     The  Northern 


;,»« 

(.-,> ..o- ''  .                                         v.  c    us  ■■-.  ■ 

1 

JUmK^n-&  L&ca<m* 

Iv* 

\%\*$%%%  %&  VK^«- 

VtNtJfari'W-A y)'p$f\:<Qfihiy-  »*.    ,,. ■-., -■.;.■.<• 

.-VJS&U^Z :.. ..■•.  ^>*:^....,, .     . : . ,ji„, .. /x  ' ' 

Fac-simile  of  Professional  Card  in  Danville 
"Citizen"  in  1851. 

Cross  was  the  first  Railroad  chartered,  and 
the  original  bond  issue  was  exhausted  be- 
fore the  line  could  be  completed.  It  was 
not  till  1847,  when  private  capital  had  been 
interested,  that  the  line  was  completed  into 
Springfield,  and  work  began  to  extend  the 
line  on  eastward,  to  connect  up  with  the 
Toledo,  Wabash  &  Western,  which  was 
building  from  the  East. 

There  was  a  holiday  in  Old  Vermilion 
when  the  first  train  came  steaming  across 
the  new  Wabash  Bridge  and  on  into  town, 
and  the  late  James  Knight,  as  Conductor, 
stepped  from  the  only  car.  In  November 
of  that  year  the  line  was  extended  to  the 
Makemson  Timber,  where  connection  was 
made  with  the  Indiana  road.  This  was  the 
meeting  point  until  1858,  when  the  Eastern 
road  withdrew  to  the  State  line,  and  there- 
after the  Great  Western,  as  the  road  was 
known,  extended  their  service  to  Illiana. 
This  was  the  condition  in  1861,  when  Lin- 
coln passed  through  Danville  enroute  to 
Washington,  there  to  remain  until  an  assas- 


sin's bullet  had  laid  him  low.  The  Presi- 
dential train  did  not  stop  in  Danville,  but 
many  citizens  had  driven  to  State  Line,  and 
there  bid  their  friend  good  bye. 

It  was  in  1851  that  the  business  men  of 
Danville  first  realized  that  the  farming 
community  must  be  reckoned  with,  and  it 
was  decided  to  hold  a  County  Fair.  The 
first  session  was  held  that  year  near  the 
present  site  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  and  lasted  one  day.  It  was  a  suc- 
cess and  next  year  the  sessions  were  pro- 
longed     till      the      second      day— October, 

1852 and   were   held   in   the   river   bottom 

near  the  present  Memorial  bridge.  It  was 
the  biggest  event  in  the  history  of  the 
Town.  Ward  Hill  Lamon  exhibited  a  trick 
monkey  and  ran  his  trotting  horse,  under 
saddle,  against  his  own  record;  Billy  Rey- 
nolds' Brass  Band— the  first  ever  organized 
in  the  State — played  their  most  popular 
airs,  and  the  premiums  paid  aggregated 
§42.85,  the  highest  being  S5.00  for  the 
best  stallion,  which  was  awarded  to  Har- 
vey Sodowsky.  Alvan  Gilbert  was  given 
S3.00  for  the  best  bull — one  which  he  had 
purchased  from  Governor  Joseph  Vance  of 
Ohio — and  Hiram  Catlett  of  Salt  Fork 
carried  home  S3.00  for  the  three  best  colts. 
Mrs.  Cole  secured  25  cents  for  the  best 
linen  stockings.  At  the  close  of  the  Fair, 
Sam  Frazier  bought  the  prize  Gilbert  bull 
for  §50.00 — an  unheard  of  price.  The  next 
year  the  Fair  was  removed  to  Butler's 
Point  and  continued  to  function  until  1898. 
The  organization  was  unique  inasmuch  as 
there  were  no  stockholders.  The  exhibitors 
of  each  year  elected  the  directors  for  the 
next  exhibition. 

The  Old  Catlin  Fair  in  its  day  was  an 
institution  and  no  one  will  ever  know  the 
scope  of  its  influence.  It  was  the  Daddy  of 
'em  all  and  it  is  just  possible  that  Jim  Milli- 
kin,  one  of  its  promoters — then  a  sheep 
raiser  near  Butler's  Point — may  have  re- 
ceived the  inspiration  that  later  made  him 
President  of  a  Decatur  Bank  and  gave  him 
the  funds  with  which  to  establish  the  Uni- 
versity  that   bears   his   name. 

The  Old  Catlin  Fair  is  no  more,  but  in 
the  forty  odd  years  of  its  functioning  it 
served  to  give  a  place  in  live  stock  history 
to  Jacob  Oakwood,  Sam  Baum,  Martin 
Moudy,  Lou  Green,  Hy  Catlett  and  Henry 
Puzey.  The  old  track  is  overgrown  with 
weeds,  the  buildings  have  disappeared,  its 
sponsers  are  no  more,  but  the  memory 
lingers. 

It  was  1858  and  feeling  ran  high  in 
Danville.  The  Lincoln-Douglas  debates 
were  being  held  and  each  contender  had 
his  champions  in  this  Town.  There  were 
hot  arguments  regarding  the  merits  of  the 
two    men    in    the    Town    of    Danville — and 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


31 


some  of  them  were  settled  by  a  blow.  Dan- 
ville was  not  on  the  list  of  the  favored 
Towns,  but  did  have  an  opportunity  of 
hearing'  the  contenders.  It  was  on  Sep- 
tember 22  that  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  "the 
Little  Giant,"  made  his  address  from  a 
stand  near  the  present  site  of  the  Park 
that  bears  his  name.  While  here  he  was 
the  guest  of  his  friend,  Tommv  Forbes,  al- 
though Reason  Hooton,  who  in  1852  had 
lacked  but  two  votes  of  being  the  nominee 
for  vice-president  on  the  Democratic  ticket; 
J.  G.  English,  the  banker;  Peter  Voorhees,  a 
brother  of  Daniel  of  the  Silver  Tongue; 
William  M.  Payne,  ex-Sheriff;  William 
McCormick,  of  the  Tavern,  and  other  Dem- 
ocrats, had   pleaded   for  the  privilege. 

Lincoln,  beloved  of  men,  arrived  that 
evening  from  Urbana,  and  was  housed  for 
the  night  in  the  home  of  his  friend,  Dr. 
William  Fithian.  At  the  twilight  hour, 
loyal  friends  called  to  do  him  honor,  but 
he  had  retired  to  an  upper  room.  His 
tight  boots  refused  to  accommodate  his 
swollen  feet  and  he  could  not  come  down 
to  meet  them.  As  a  compromise  he  stepped 
out  on  a  balcony  and  gave  words  of  greet- 
ing. Later  he  was  a  martyred  President 
and  the  balcony  is  a  shrine.  Ladies  of  the 
D.  A.  R.  have  marked  it  with  a  Tablet  of 
Bronze.  Thus  accidents  sometimes  become 
History. 

The  following  day  he  addressed  the  peo- 
ple from  a  flag-adorned  stand  and  when 
two  years  later  he  was  the  candidate  of  a 
new  party  for  the  greatest  office  within  the 
gift  of  the  people  Old  Vermilion  endorsed 
him  by  a  majority  of  more  than  six  hun- 
dred. But  Douglas  carried  his  home  county 
of   Sangamon. 

It  was  the  vear  1860  and  all  was  not  well 
in  Old  Vermilion.    The  threat  of  battle  wa» 


in  the  air.  The  South,  to  save  her  slaves, 
threatened  secession.  It  all  hinged  on  the 
election — and  when  the  returns  came  in 
Lincoln  had  won — the  Lincoln  whom  Old 
Vermilion  knew  and  trusted,  and  the  breech 
between  the  men  from  the  Southland  and 
those  from  rugged  New  England — former 
friends — was  widened.  There  were  threats 
and  counter-threats,  blows  were  struck  in 
defense  of  opinion  and  clouds  obscured  the 
sunlight  of  happiness  and  content  here  in 
Old  Vermilion. 

And  then  ;hots  were  fired  on  the  Flag  in 
Charleston  harbor!  No  more  was  Old 
Vermilion  a  divided  camp!  Vermilion  was 
for  War,  and  the  irk  scarce  was  dry  on 
Lincoln's  call  for  Volunteers  when  Captain 
Samuel  Frazier  was  ready  with  his  com- 
pany. It  was  April  14,  when  the  first  shot 
was  fired  and  on  May  2,  Company  C, 
Twelfth  Infantry,  was  marching  to  the 
front. 

The  war  was  fought  and  won  and  the 
record  of  Old  Vermilion  is  a  glorious  one. 
At  its  close  the  records  showed  that  the 
County  had  exceeded  her  quota  by  seven, 
and  that  out  of  a  population  of  19,779  in 
1860,  she  had  furnished  2,596  soldiers,  and 
with  a  credit  for  re-enlistments  showed 
on  the  official  records  that  she  had  fur- 
nished 3,669  men.  And  while  the  men  were 
at  the  front,  the  Women  of  Old  Vermilion 
labored  in  the  fields. 

April  9,  1865.  Lee  had  surrendered  at 
Appomattox!  The  War  was  over — and  the 
men  of  Old  Vermilion  were  coming  home! 

The  Genesis  of  Old  Vermilion  was  ended. 
She  was  a  Sovereign  County  of  a  Sover- 
eign State  of  a  United  Country.  The  fu- 
ture could  offer  nought  but  evolution. 


THE  SUN  REACHES  THE  ZENITH 


NINETEEN  Hundred  Twenty-six:  Six- 
ty-one years  have  passed  since  the 
Soldier  Boys  in  Blue  came  back  from 
the  Southern  Battlefields.  Only  a  few  of 
them  are  left,  and  even  those  who  wore  the 
khaki  and  marched  away  with  Battery  A 
in  the  days  of  '98  are  slowing  up.  Time 
flies.  Even  the  youngsters  who  crossed  the 
sea  when  near  the  whole  world  clashed  on 
foreign  fields  are  showing  the  effects  of  the 
grind  of  War.  But  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
still  flutter  in  the  breeze  and  the  Grand 
Old  U.  S.  A.,  of  which  Old  Vermilion  is  a 
Unit,  has  her  place  in  the  Sun.  Big 
changes  here  since  Old  Vermilion  ceased 
her  settlements  in  1865  and  began  her  in- 
tensive development. 

When    the    Boys    in    Blue    came    limping 
back    from    the    Southland    there    were    but 


fifteen  Towns  and  Settlements  of  size  in 
Old  Vermilion,  and  their  listing  makes 
strange  reading  today.  Let  the  Roll  be 
called :  Blue  Grass,  Marysville,  Rossville, 
Myersville,  Higginsville,  Newtown,  Den- 
mark, Danville,  Tilton,  Illiana,  Catlin, 
Fairmount,  Chillicothe,  Ridgefarm,  George- 
town. Of  these  Marysville  is  now  the  Vil- 
lage of  Potomac  and  Old  Chillicothe,  after 
a  span  of  life  as  Old  Dallas,  has  ended  as 
the  Town  of  Indianola,  Blue  Grass,  Myers- 
ville, Higginsville  and  Newtown  now  are 
but  memories,  and  the  waters  of  man- 
made  Lake  Vermilion  ripple  over  the  spot 
where  Seymour  Treat's  cabin  and  saw  mill 
stood   in   the  center  of  Old   Denmark. 

But  the  presence  of  a  few  ghost  Town- 
sites  does  not  spell  desolation.  To  supply 
the  needs  of  the  dwellers  on  the  bi'oad  acres 


32 


CENTENNIAL  BO  JK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


of  Old  Vermilion  and  to  satisfy  the  desires 
of  those  who  wanted  the  community  life 
there  have  come  into  active  existence  since 
1867  the  City  of  Hoopeston,  the  Towns  of 
Rankin,  East  Lynn,  Cheneyville,  Arm- 
strong, Henning,  Alvin,  Bismarck,  Fithian, 
Collison,  Muncie,  Oakwood,  Westville,  Si- 
dell,  Allerton,  Vermilion  Grove,  and  the 
Hamlets  of  Reilly,  Ellis,  Jamesburg,  Bel- 
gium, Grape  Creek,  Hastings,  Humrick  and 
Jamaica. 

Of  the  total  land  area  of  589,440  acres 
within  the  county,  519,338  are  under  culti- 
vation, split  up  into  3,587  separate  farms, 
of  which  1,706  are  operated  by  their  own- 
ers and  the  remainder  by  tenants.  The 
assessed  value  of  this  land  alone  is  §24,- 
444,471.  The  full  value  of  this  land,  as 
determined  by  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce, is  §67,696,591,  a  fair  increase  from 
S589.440,  which  was  the  selling  price  in 
1826.  If  the  figures  of  the  Department  of 
Commerce  are  to  be  taken,  then  the  modest 
sum  of  $11,335,610  must  be  added  for  the 
worth  of  the  improvements,  and  in  1819  the 
wife  of  Seymour  Treat  considered  herself 
a  lucky  woman  when  she  moved  into  her 
new  cabin,  whose  only  cost  was  the  labor  of 
building.  On  these  broad  acres,  in  192o, 
were  produced  5,213.000  bushels  of  corn: 
501,000  bushels  of  wheat,  4,112,0000 
bushels  of  oats,  11,000  bushels  of  barley, 
45,000  bushels  of  rye  and  58,000  bushels  of 
potatoes,  while  the  commercial  crop  of  ap- 
ples that  year  netted  1,000  barrels.  Brave 
figures,  these,  but  they  are  furnished  by 
the  government. 

This  same  year  of  1925,  the  Government 
Statistics  aver  that  within  the  county  there 
were  19,860  horses,  2,160  mules,  12,900  milk 
cows,  15,750  other  cattle,  16,307  sheep  and 
63,805  hogs.  And  in  1826  there  were  less 
than  200  horses  and  only  107  yoke  of  oxen 
in  the  County. 

Across  these  broad  acres  stretch  seven 
trunk  line  railroads,  with  a  trackage  in  the 
County  of  393.4  miles,  four  of  which  center 
in  Danville.  Over  the  County,  outside  Town 
limits,  227  miles  of  paved  roads  make  the 
operation  of  an  auto  a  pleasure,  and  in 
1925  12,657  of  our  citizens  availed  them- 
selves of  the  opportunity  and  held  owner- 
ship in  machines  of  various  makes  and 
ages.  For  this  privilege  they  paid  in  taxes 
to  the  Countv  on  an  assessed  value  of 
SI, 4 18,489.  But  why  worry?  One  of  the 
first  acts  of  the  Commissioners  in  1826  was 
to  levy  a  tax  on  "pleasure  carriages." 

Education,  too,  has  not  been  neglected. 
At  present  there  are  247  district  schools  in 
the  County,  of  which  73  are  in  towns  and 
villages,  and  have  more  than  one  room; 
174  are  the  old-time  country  schools. 
Throughout  the  County  are  scattered  19 
High    Schools,    everyone    of    which    is    an 


accredited  school  at  the  University  of  Illi- 
nois, and  14  of  these  are  organized  under 
the  Township  High  School  law.  Seven  hun- 
dred thirty-six  teachers  are  employed.  The 
sum  of  81,450,259.07,  or  more  than  one- 
third  of  our  total  tax  receipts — 83,322,- 
938.69 — is  spent  in  their  maintenance.  The 
total  enrollment  in  the  Common  Schools 
is  19,610  pupils,  while  3,287  students 
availed  themselves  last  year  of  the  privilege 
of  attending  the  various  High's. 

Religious  Teaching,  too,  has  come  in  for 
its  share  of  development  since  the  days 
when  Father  Enoch  Kingsbury  walked 
from  one  settlement  to  another  to  give  voice 
to  the  Word  of  God  in  some  Settler's  cabin 
to  all  those  who  cared  to  listen.  In  Dan- 
ville and  the  territory  that  comprises  Old 
Vermilion,  133  denominational  organiza- 
tions dot  the  landscape  with  their  Houses 
of  Worship, — a  fair  representation  for  a 
County  with  89,947  population,  of  which 
30,431 — men  and  women — voted  at  the 
election  in  1924. 

It  was  in  the  Spring  of  1836  that  Mor- 
decai  Mobley  came  into  town  with  his  fine 
span  of  horses  and  opened  a  branch  of  the 
State  Bank  of  Illinois,  in  a  cabin  just  east 
of  the  present  site  of  the  Palmer  National 
Bank.  It  was  after  sundown  of  an  Autumn 
day  that  he  left.  No  one  was  a  looser,  be- 
cause the  State  guaranteed  the  funds.  Mor- 
decai  left  because  the  local  business  did 
not  justify  his  staying.  Mr.  Cullum,  of 
New  York,  came  next  in  1852,  and  with  Guy 
Merrill  as  cashier,  opened  the  Stock  Securi- 
ty Bank.  This  he  sold  in  1855  to  Dan 
Clapp,  who  was  a  failure  in  '56.  J.  L. 
Tincher  and  J.  G.  English  were  his  as- 
signees, and  from  this  wreck  they  evolved 
their  own  private  Bank,  with  its  wildcat 
money,  and  made  the  first  application  which 
was  received  at  Washington  for  a  Charter 
under  the  National  Bank  Act  in  1864. 
From  this  grew  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Danville,  the  pioneer  of  the  five  in  that  city 
and  the  twenty-five  that  serve  the  daily 
needs  of  the  other  towns  in  the  County. 
The  parent  bank  began  with  a  capital  of 
850,000.  The  combined  assets  of  all  the 
banks  in  Old  Vermilion  now  aggregate  §20.- 
235,460.00.  In  1827  a  man  who  could  walk 
into  Gurdon  Hubbard's  Trading  Post  with 
two  beaver-skins  was  considered  wealthy. 

When  Grandad  wanted  a  home  it  wasn't 
necessary  to  give  a  thought  to  the  financial 
end  of  the  undertaking.  There  was  no  cost 
except  that  the  prospective  home  owner 
must  provide  a  bountiful  dinner,  with 
liquid  refreshments,  and  then  speed  the 
word  that  there  was  to  be  a  log-raising. 
Fellow  Settlers  did  the  work  and  the  host 
of  the  day  just  moved  in.  Changed  condi- 
tions demand  that  real  money  must  be  at 
hand  before  work  may  begin  on  the  home 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  [LLINOIS 


53 


of  today.  Local  men  have  solved  the  prob- 
lem by  the  establishment  of  Building  Asso- 
ciations, where  worthy  people  may  borrow, 
and  repay  in  monthly  installments,  "the 
same  as  rent."  Six  Associations  in  the 
County  Seat  have  enabled  Danville  to  boast 
of  being  a  City  with  more  Home  Owners, 
per  capita,  than  any  other  Town  in  the 
State.  The  City  of  Hoopeston  has  two,  and 
the  Towns  of  Fairmount,  Ridgefarm,  Poto- 
mac, Georgetown,  Oakwood,  Rankin,  Ross- 
ville  and  Sidell  one  each.  The  combined 
assets  of  the  seventeen  Associations  in  the 
County  now  amount  to  $23,288,450.61. 

In  1824,  Fidelia,  beloved  daughter  of 
Uncle  Jimmy  Butler,  he  of  Butler's  Point, 
was  sick  nigh  unto  death,  and  it  was  nec- 
essary for  the  grieving  parent  to  ride  post- 
haste to  the  little  settlement  on  the  Wabash 
at  Perrysville  and  bring  back  good  Dr. 
Reynolds,  the  only  practitioner  within  a 
day's  journey,  to  coax  the  roses  back  to  the 
cheeks  of  the  little  sufferer.  But  that  was 
in  1824.  Today,  in  Old  Vermilion,  if  Fidelia 
should  be  ailing  Uncle  Jimmie  would  have  a 
choice  of  119  men  skilled  in  the  science  of 
healing  herbs  and  curing  drugs  who  could 
come  on  call  of  'phone,  and  should  the  case 
be  considered  dangerous  he  would  have  the 
privilege  of  a  room  and  the  services  of  a 
skilled  attendant  at  either  the  Lakeview  or 
St.  Elizabeth  Hospital  in  the  County  Seat. 
A  great  step  forward  since  the  Thirties, 
when  but  three  physicians  were  available 
when  Death  hovered  around  the  cabins,  and 
only  the  services  of  Grandma  Lura  Guy- 
man  might  be  had  when  a  little  stranger 
was  to  add  to  the  population.  For  twenty 
years,  the  Grand  Old  Dame  carried  on  as 
the  pioneer  midwife  and  the  night  never 
was  too  stormy  for  her  to  mount  her  horse 
and  ride  across  the  prairies  when  she  knew 
that  she  was  soon  to  hear  the  wails  of  a 
new-born  babe  at  her  journey's  end. 

One  hundred  years  ago,  Joseph  Gundy, 
sometime  of  Pennsylvania,  but  recently  of 
Vincennes,  Indiana,  brought  his  wife,  Sally, 
to  the  new  home  near  Myersville,  in  Xewell 
Township,  which  he  had  built  the  year  be- 
fore. Their  little  cabin  was  as  well  fur- 
nished as  that  of  any  of  the  pioneers,  but 
Sally's  regret  was  that  her  only  source  of 
reading  was  the  family  Bible,  which  to  her 
was  an  oft-told  story.  Books  were  scarce  in 
Old  Vermilion  in  those  days  and  even  in 
those  times  the  Word  of  God  was  the 
World's  Best  Seller.  The  trouble  with  Sally 
was  that  she  was  born  before  her  time.  Had 
she  lived  here  in  1926  for  her  daily  read- 
ing she  would  have  had  a  choice  of  two 
daily  newspapers  from  Danville  and  a  like 
number  from  Hoopeston,  and  had  she  cared 
only  for  a  weekly  digest  of  the  happenings 
here  in  Old  Vermilion,  she  could  have  a 
choice    of    weekly    newspapers    from    Fair- 


mount,  Fithian,  Georgetown,  Rankin, 
Ridgefarm,  Rossville  and  Sidell.  If  she 
had  gone  in  for  books,  she  could  have  moved 
to  Ridgefarm,  Hoopeston  or  Danville,  each 
of  which  cities  now  maintain  a  Free  Public 
Library,  the  last  named  having  36,511  vol- 
umes subject  to  withdrawal.  A  far  cry, 
this,  from  the  days  when  the  Bible  was  the 
one  book  to  be  found  in  the  cabins  of  the 
Pioneers. 

In  the  Good  Old  Days  each  man  was  his 
own  Press  Agent,  but  Progress  demands 
collective  advertising.  Along  with  the  lux- 
uries of  living  in  these  days  have  come  the 
Booster  Clubs,  the  Ladies'  Aids  and  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce,  with  their  high- 
pressure  Secretaries,  who  do  the  horn 
blowing  for  a  community.  This  is  1926, 
and  it  is  meet  that  the  custom  of  the  times 
should  not  be  disregarded.  Enter  the  Sec- 
retary, with  his  Budget  of  Facts: 

Vermilon  County  was  the  pioneer  in  the 
matter  of  paved  highways,  and  Danville, 
the  County  Seat,  is  on  the  Dixie  and  the 
Pike's  Peak  Ocean-to-Ocean  Highways. 

Hoopeston,  in  this  County,  is  the  great- 
est corn-canning  center  in  the  United 
States.  Rossville,  nearby,  also  has  a  Can- 
nery. 

The  Western  Brick  Company,  at  Dan- 
ville, is  the  largest  brick-making  concern 
in  the  country.  The  Danville  Brick  Com- 
pany also  is  located  there. 

The  Hegeler  Smelter  has  a  nation-wide 
reputation. 

The  Sugar  Creek  Creamery  is  one  of  the 
largest  butter-making  concerns  in  the  coun- 
try, and  is  still  expanding. 

Danville,  the  County  Seat,  needed  an 
adequate  water  supply,  and  built  a  Lake 
three-fourths  of  a  mile  wide  and  six  miles 
long. 

Danville  has  five  Parks,  comprising  nine- 
ty-five acres,  the  finest  Fair  Ground  plant 
in  a  hundred  miles,  a  State  Armory  that 
cost  S200,000,  a  Federal  Building  that  cost 
S325,000,  in  the  days  when  building  costs 
were  low;  two  Children's  Homes,  two  Hos- 
pitals, a  Tubercular  Sanitarium,  a  Home 
for  Aged  Women,  a  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  a  Y.  W. 
C.  A.,  a  National  Soldiers  Home,  where 
2,200  men  who  have  fought  for  the  Flag 
now  live  in   comfort,  a   new   Million   Dollar 

High   School 

********** 

It  was  .Midnight  in  September,  1926. 
Down  at  the  foot  of  Clark  Street,  in  Dan- 
ville, in  the  County  of  Vermilion,  and  the 
State  of  Illinois,  stood  a  group  of  men  clad 
in  the  garb  that  one  sees  only  in  the  quaint 
pictures  of  the  Long  Ago.  But  they  wen 
Men — Real  Men —  just  the  sort  one  would 
seek  in  time  of  stress.  Eight  there  were 
in  the  strange  gathering  there  on  the  rive. 
bank,    each    be-whiskeied    and    armed    with 


:i 


CF.XTEXXIAL   BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 


the  pistol  and  the  hunting  knife  that  the 
fashion  of  the  day  decreed.  Each?  Yes,  all 
— save  one.  A  closer  view  revealed  that 
he  was  an  Indian.  He  was  Keannekeuk, 
the  Christian  Kickapoo,  a  man  of  Peace, 
and  the  others  were  Gurdon  Hubbard,  Amos 
Williams,  Dan  Beckwith,  George  Haworth, 
Sylvester  Rutledge,  Harvey  Luddington  and 
Solomon  Gilbert.  The  White  Men  in  the 
group  were  peering  intently  into  the  dark- 
ness, in  the  direction  of  Cayuga,  where  the 
Vermilion  empties  into  the  Wabash,  but 
the  Redman's  gaze  was  roving  o'er  the 
landscape.  He  was  seeking  to  locate  the 
trees  of  oak  and  maple  that  in  his  boyhood 
had  dotted  the  site  of  the  tepees  of  his 
Friends  and  Brothers,  the  Piankeshaws. 


"Well,  men,"  said  Amos  Williams,  "we 
might  as  well  go  home.  The  Old  Vermilion 
is  falling  and  no  steamboat  could  get  up 
here  now.  But  when  the  next  freshet 
comes — " 

Oh,  Hum!  Must  have  been  napping. 
These  tales  of  the  Pioneer  Days  certainly 
are  gripping  but  the  figures  about  condi- 
tions now  do  make  one  sleepy.  Better  go 
out  and  see  that  the  car  is  safely  locked 
in  the  garage,  then  come  in  and  shut  off 
the  steam,  cut  out  the  radio,  turn  out  the 
light  and  to  bed.  Want  to  get  up  early, 
finish  the  morning  paper  and  do  some  tele- 
phoning before  the  mail  man  comes. 
Good  night. 


CATLIN  TOWNSHIP  HIGH  SCHOOL 

One  of  the  Nineteen  High  Schools  in  Vermilion  County- 
Accredited  at  the  University  of  Illinois. 


-and  Everyone 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


.<5 


THE  LINCOLN  CIRCUIT 

(By   LOTTE   E.   JONES) 


\  t  rmilion  County  is  distinguished,  in  that 
it  is  on  the  Old  Lincoln  Circuit.  The  time 
between  Abraham  Lincoln's  service  as  mem- 
ber of  the  Lower  House  of  Congress  and 
his  election  as  President  of  the  United 
States  was  largely  spent  by  him  in  travel- 
ling the  old  Eighth  Judicial  Circuit,  prac- 
ticing his  profession.  He  was  the  only 
lawyer,  other  than  Judge  David  Davis,  who 
went  to  every  court  in  the  district  in  every 
session. 

The  old  Eighth  Judicial  District  was  com- 
posed of  the  counties  of  Sangamon,  Menard, 
Mason,  Tazewell,  Woodford,  McLean,  Lo- 
gan, DeWitt,  Piatt,  Champaign,  Vermilion, 
Edgar,  Coles,  Shelby,  Moultrie,  Macon  and 
Christian.  Twice  each  year,  Abraham  Lin- 
coln "rode  the  Circuit"  in  company  with 
Associate  Lawyers  who  were  the  most  bril- 
liant men   of  the   profession. 

In  1914,  Judge  J.  O.  Cunningham,  who 
was  the  last  one  living  of  these  associates 
of  Lincoln  on  the  Circuit,  and  who  was 
greatly  desirous  of  having  the  route  fol- 
lowed in  these  travels  preserved  for  pos- 
terity, interested  the  Illinois  Society  Daugh- 
ters of  the  American  Revolution,  and  other 
Patriotic  People,  to  express  this  patriotism 
by  the  noble  work  of  placing  suitable  mark- 
ers along  the  Highway  over  which  these 
men  travelled. 

The  Organization  which  is  responsible  for 
this  marking  is  the  Lincoln  Circuit  Marking 
Association,  a  corporation  under  the  laws 
of  the  State  of  Illinois.  This  great  Lincoln 
Memorial  placed  in  the  heart  of  the  Nation 
expresses  its  sentiment  through  two  mark- 
ers of  different  design.  One  is  placed  at 
each  county  seat,  and  a  smaller  one  is 
placed  where  the  highway  crosses  each 
county  line.  The  marker  at  the  county 
seats  was  designed  by  Henry  Bacon,  the 
artist  of  the  Lincoln  Memorial  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  This  marker  is  a  shaft  of  grey 
granite  supporting  a  bronze  medallion  head 
of  Lincoln.  The  beautiful  medallion  is  the 
work  of  the  celebrated  artist,  George  Lober, 
of  New  York  City. 

There  are  nineteen  of  these  markers  of 
the  county  seat  design.  Logan  County  has 
two,  because  the  county  seat  of  that  county 
was  changed  during  the  time  Abraham  Lin- 
coln "Rode  the  Circuit."  Vermilion  County 
has  two,  one  being  placed  at  the  gateway 
of  the  John  R.  Thompson  Farm  as  a  gift 
from  the  children  of  John  Riley  Thompson, 
St.,  to  commemorate  the  strong  friendship 
between  their  father  and  Abraham  Lincoln, 
as  stated  on  the  bronze  tablet  on  the  base 
of  the  shaft.  The  Lincoln  Circuit  Route 
passes    in    front    of    the    Thompson    Farm. 


The  markers  at  the  county  lines  are  made 
of  concrete  and  are  designed  as  a  "shrine 
on  the  way,"  bearing  the  bust  of  Lincoln. 
The  names  of  the  counties  connected  by 
this  marker  are  on  the  marker  facing  each 
way.  The  county  seat  markers  bear  the 
Insignia  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
ReveJution  on  the  bronze  tablet  at  one  cor- 
ner, and  the  monogram  of  the  letters  L.  C. 
M.  A.  at  the  corresponding  corner.  This 
monogram  is  copyrighted,  and  can  appear 
only  on  work  erected  by  the  Lincoln  Circuit 
Marking  Association.  The  markers  at  the 
county  seats,  with  those  at  the  county  lines, 
hold  and  continue  the  circuit  travelled  by 
Lincoln  and  the  other  eminent  members  of 
the  bar.  One  other  feature  of  this  Lincoln 
Memorial  is  the  guidepost,  placed  at  each 
cross  road  on  the  Circuit,  on  which  is 
painted  a  white  circle  and  the  words  "Lin- 
coln Circuit."  Completed,  this  great  Lin- 
coln Memorial  lies  as  a  necklace  of  jewels 
on  the  bosom  of  the  Nation,  a  fitting  ex- 
pression  of  loyalty. 

The  Lincoln  Circuit  Marking  Association 
has  its  home  in  Danville,  the  county  seat 
of  Vermilion  County,  where  the  annual 
meeting  is  always  held.  This  meeting 
comes  on  the  "first  Tuesday  after  the  sec- 
ond Monday  in  October."  Any  and  every 
one  who  wants  to  hold  to  the  memory  and 
principles  of  the  immortal  Lincoln  is  wel- 
come at  these  meetings.  The  day  following 
the  meeting,  all  interested  people  join  in  a 
pilgrimage  over  the  Circuit,  starting  from 
Danville,  thus  actually  travelling  in  the 
footsteps  of  Abraham   Lincoln. 

Some  of  these  who  have  worked  the 
hardest,  and  to  whom  the  greatest  credit 
for  the  success  of  this  Lincoln  Circuit 
Marking  is  due,  have  died.  There  is  Judge 
Cunningham,  George  P.  Davis,  and  Judge 
Curran,  and  now  our  dear  Jessie  Palmer- 
Weber  has  been  lost  to  us;  she  served  the 
cause  and  interests  of  the  Lincoln  Circuit 
Marking  Association  with  a  never-to-be- 
forgotten  devotion.  With  tears  and  sad- 
ness we   make  this  record. 

The  present  officers  of  the  Lincoln  Circuit 
Marking  Association  are: 

Mr.  Lincoln  Weldon,  President,  Blooming- 
ton,  111.;  Mrs.  Eugene  Chubbuck.  Vice-Pres- 
ident, Peoria,  111.;  Miss  Georgia  Osborn. 
Secretary,  Springfield.  111.;  Mr.  Andrew 
Russel,  Treasurer,  Jacksonville,  111. 

Executive  Committee — Dr.  0.  L.  Schmidt, 
Chicago,  111.;  Miss  Georgia  Osborn,  Spring- 
field. 111.;  Mr.  L.  J.  Freese,  Eureka,  111.; 
Judge  L.  Y.  Stringer,  Lincoln,  111.;  Miss 
Lotte  E.  Jones,  Danville,  111.,  Chairman. 


36  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


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Fac-simile  of  letter  of  Chicago  citizens  thanking  the  Vermilion  Coun- 
ty Rangers  for  coming  to  their  aid  during  the  Winnebago  War  in  1827. 
The  original  is  in  the  collection  of  the  Woodbury  family,  Danville,  Illi- 
nois. 


^  .  -**"***.«.  .  m    '»  *  •'  .*.  -'        '••••' 


CENTENNIAL  HnuK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


31 


Bermtitmt  (Emutty  3n  War 


By  JOHN  H.  LEWMAN 

— D- 


Vermilion  County's  militant  record  be- 
gan with  the  Winnebago  war,  and  while 
there  were  no  local  casualities  and  none 
smelt  powder,  the  outstanding  fact  is  that 
the  boys  were  willing.  This  was  in  L827, 
when  Danville  was  but  a  few  mouths  old. 
The  war  really  failed  to  materialize  into 
much  more  than  a  scare,  but  there  were 
rumors  and  the  few  white  inhabitants  of 
Fort  Dearborn  became  alarmed  for  their 
safety,  and  prevailed  on  Gurdon  Hubbard, 
who  was  in  the  village  at  the  time,  to 
come  to  Danville  with  an  appeal  for  aid. 
This  he  accordingly  did,  making  the  trip  in 
less  than  twenty  hours.  In  doing  this  lie- 
killed  one  horse  and  exhausted  another.  He 
reached  the  home  of  Peleg  Spencer,  two 
miles  from  Danville,  in  the  afternoon  of 
July  15,  1827.  While  he  rested,  Spencer 
set  out  to  rouse  the  settlers.  He  notified 
Alexander  McDonald,  who  in  turn  carried 
the  word  to  his  brother-in-law,  Hezekiah 
Cunningham.  The  latter  was  a  captain  in 
the  Vermilion  Battalion  of  the  state  militia, 
and  rode  all  night  to  order  his  company 
to  assemble  at  noon  the  next  day  at  But- 
ler's Point.  Other  captains  did  the  same, 
and  at  the  appointed  hour  all  had  assem- 
bled, although  many  had  to  walk  from  eight 
to  tin  miles  to  keep  the  appointment.  Vol- 
unteers were  called  for,  and  fifty  men  wert 
accepted.  Officers  for  the  campaign  were 
elected,  as  follows:  Captain,  Achilles  Mor- 
gan; first  lieutenant.  Major  Bayles;  sec- 
ond lieutenant,  Col.  Isaac  R.  Moores.  Gur- 
don Hubbard  was  named  as  guide  and 
"chief  of  spies."  There  is  no  complete 
ro  ti  r  of  the  hand,  but  from  old  records  it 
is  known  that  among  others  were  the  fol- 
lowing privates:  George  M.  Beckwith,  John 
Beasley,  Hezekiah  Cunningham,  Julian  F.I 
lis.  Seaman  Cox.  James  Dixon,  Asa  Elliott, 
Francis  Foley,  William  Foley,  Ham- 
mers, Jacob  Heater,  Davis,  Evan  Mor- 
gan, John  W.  Vance,  Isaac  Goens,  Johna- 
than  Phelps,  Joshua  Parrish,  William 
Reed,  John  Myers,  John  Saulsbury,  J.  kirk 
man,  Anthony  Swisher.  George  Swisher, 
Joseph  Price,  George  Weir.  John  Vaughn, 
Xewton  Wright,  Abel  Williams  and  Fran 
cis  Whitcomb.  Many  of  the  volunteers 
lacked  horses,  and  those  who  wore  to  re 
main  at  home  furnished  enough  to  mount 
all  but  five  of  the  troop.  The  troop  was 
then  disbanded  to  meet  at  Danville  the  next 
day,  each   man   to   bring   five  days   rations. 


On  assembling  the  next  day,  through  the 
generosity  of  Gurdon  Hubbard  each  man 
was  provided  with  a  pint  of  whisky.  But 
Abel  Williams  was  the  only  man  to  take 
a  supply  of  coffee,  which  proved  a  boon 
to  the  crusaders.  On  leaving  Danville,  they 
passed  through  Denmark,  where  Seymour 
Treat  was  building  his  saw  mill.  This  with 
the  exception  of  Hubbard's  trading  post 
near  the  present  site  of  Watseka,  was  the 
only  habitation  seen  by  the  company  until 
Fort  Dearborn  was  reached  four  days  later. 
The  inhabitants  were  overjoyed  at  their 
appearance  and  during  the  week  they  re- 
mained on  duty  there,  the  men  were  feasted 
to  the  best  to  be  had. 

At  the  end  of  ten  days  a  runner  brought 
the  news  that  the  war  was  over  and  that 
the  company  might  return.  This  they  did, 
after  being  tendered  a  banquet,  in  which 
a  full  barrel  each  of  gin,  brandy  and 
whisky  was  opened  for  the  boys.  The  band 
made  the  return  trip  in  three  days,  and 
later  in  1852,  each  man  received  a  govern- 
ment warrant  for  eighty  acres  of  land 
under  the  bounty  act  because  of  his  serv- 
ices. 


THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR. 
It  was  on  a  quiet  Sabbath  morning  in 
July,  1832,  when  the  tocsin  of  war  was 
again  sounded  in  Vermilion  county.  Rev. 
Enoch  Kingsbury  was  in  the  midst  of  one 
of  his  three-hour  sermons  in  the  hall  over 
Murphy  &  Cunningham's  store,  southwest 
corner  of  the  public  square,  when  the  first 
of  the  refugees  from  the  Fox  river  district 
where  Black  Hawk  and  his  braves  were  on 
the  rampage,  burst  in  on  the  services  and 
broke  up  the  meeting.  He  was  a  badly 
scared  man,  and  came  into  the  settlement 
hatless,  coatless  and  with  only  one  moc- 
casin. He  was  certain  the  redskins  were 
close  on  his  trail,  but  later  developments 
proved  that  none  were  nearer  than  200 
miles.  Later  in  the  day  two  more  terror- 
stricken  men  arrived.  The  alarm  was  has- 
tily given,  and  a  call  made  for  volunteers. 
Thirty-one  men  responded.  Dan  Beckwith 
was  elected  captain  and  in  less  than  two 
hours  the  band  was  on  the  march.  They 
headed  for  Joliet.  In  the  party  were  Dr. 
William  Fithian,  George  Beckwith,  Othneal 
Gilbert,  Samuel  Russell  and  Alvan  Gilbert. 
They    remained    in    the    field    for    ten   days, 


38  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


A  iFragmntt  from  DUemnrtj  a  Stroll 
of  tlje  IHmtoreu  leak 

Many  are  the  Names  of  the  Sons  of  Old  Vermilion  who  have 
given  their  lives  for  their  Country  and  their  Flag,  and  in  every 
War  there  must  be  a  First  Sacrifice.  In  acknowledgement  of  a 
Debt  and  as  a  Tribute  to  ALL  who  sleep  in  a  soldier's  grave  this 
Memorial  is  Written  into  the  Printed  Records  of  the  Centennial 
of  Vermilion  County,  in  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Lest  we  forget :  Old  Vermilion  was  in  the  field  when  Black 
Hawk  and  his  warriors  ravaged  the  Settlements  in  1832. 

3Jn  ifflrmnrtam 

WILLIAM  BROWN 

A  Member  of  the  Vermilion  County  Rangers.  Killed  and  scalped 
by  Indians  while  in  service  on  the  DuPage  river.  He  was  buried, 
unmarked  but  still  remembered,  where  he  fell- 

3)n  J&emnriam 

JOHN  P.  LAFFERTY 

A  Member  of  Company  C,  Twelfth  Regiment  United  States 
Infantry,  died  of  Disease  at  Cairo,  Illinois,  July  20,  1861,  the 
First  Sacrifice  of  the  War  Between  the  States. 

Jht  mtenrtam 

EDWARD  ASHCRAFT 

A  Member  of  Battery  A,  died  of  disease  at  Chattanooga,  Tennes- 
see, July  3,  1898,  the  first  of  the  two  who  gave  their  lives  in  the 
War  to  give  Freedom  to  the  Cubans. 

Utt  Htptttoriam 

HARRY  CARPENTER 

A  Member  of  Battery  A,  who  was  the  first  to  perish  by  act  of 
the  enemy,  when  the  U.  S.  Transport  Tuscania  was  torpedoed  by 
a  German  sub-marine,  February  5,  1918. 

And  now,  while  Old  Vermilion  is  celebrating  the  Deeds  of 
the  Pioneers  of  the  Early  Day,  we  give  pause  to  pay  Tribute  to 
ALL  who  have  Died  in  Defense  of  the  Flag. 

God  rest  your  souls,  Heroes  of  Old  Vermilion. 


^  _  -  •»•*■•'  ..  .  -  '»  *•-  ^    -  -  '»•-»» 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


jg 


when — having  been  unable  to  locate  an  en- 
emy they  started  on  the  return   march. 

In  the  meantime,  while  Beckwith  and  his 
band  were  out,  the  Vermilion  county  mi- 
litia was  concentrated  at  Danville,  as  Col. 
Isaac  N.  Moores  had  previously  been  or- 
dered by  Governor  John  Reynolds  to  have 
the  Vermilion  County  Battalion  in  readi- 
ness, in  the  event  their  services  should  be 
required.  No  orders  having  been  received 
eight  days  after  the  departure  of  Beck- 
with's  band,  Col.  Moores  decided  to  take 
I  lie  field  anyway.  The  band  numbered  300, 
all  mounted  and  half  of  them  armed  with 
"Harpers  Ferry"  rifles,  the  remainder  with 
such  guns  as  they  could  beg  or  borrow.  Col. 
Moores  was  in  command  with  Gurdon  Hub- 
bard as  lieutenant-colonel  and  John  H. 
Murphy  as  aide.  Morgan  L.  Payne  was 
designated  as  captain  of  a  "spy  company." 
The  first  day's  march  took  them  to  Hub- 
bard's trading  post  near  the  present  town 
of  Watseka,  where  the  trader  furnished 
four  wagons,  each  with  four  horses  and 
loaded  with  necessary  supplies.  The  second 
day  out,  they  met  Beckwith's  contingent 
returning.  Most  of  this  band,  however, 
about-faced  and  accompanied  the  rangers 
toward  the  front.  Beckwith,  however,  was 
forced  to  return  to  Danville,  as  he  found 
that  his  business  partner,  John  Reed,  had 
closed  their  "store"  and  was  with  Moores' 
troops. 

On  reaching  Joliet,  Capt.  Payne  and  his 
command  were  dispatched  thirty  miles 
north  on  DuPage  river  with  orders  to  erect 
a  fortification,  which  was  done.  Col. 
Moores  also  began  the  erection  of  fortifica- 
tions at  Joliet,  when  he  was  ordered  to 
march  to  Ottawa  where  the  command  was 
discharged  from  service  and  returned 
home. 

The  only  casualty  of  the  campaign  oc- 
curred the  day  Payne  began  his  blockhouse. 
William  Brown,  a  member  of  his  company 
and  a  boy  were  detailed  to  take  a  wagon 
and  team  and  proceed  about  two  miles  from 
camp  and  gather  a  load  of  clapboards 
stored  there  by  a  settler.  While  on  this  de- 
tail, they  were  fired  upon  by  five  Indians. 
Brown  was  killed  and  scalped,  but  the  boy 
returned  in  safety.  The  Indians  ran  the 
horses  off,  cut  the  harness  to  pieces,  and 
partially  wrecked  the  wagon,  which  later 
was  repaired  by  Leander  Rutledge  and 
brought  back  to  Danville.  The  horses, 
property  of  Peleg  Spencer,  were  never  re- 
covered. William  Brown,  the  dead  soldier, 
was  the  son  of  a  widow  living  near  Kyuer's 
Mill.  His  body  was  buried  with  military 
honors  near  the  spot  where  he  fell. 

Thirty  days  later  Captain  Payne's  com- 
pany was  relieved  from  duty  and  returned 
home.  Later  each  member  of  the  battalion 
was  given  land  warrants  for  eighty  acres 
as  a  bounty  for  this  service.     One  of  these 


was  given  John  Howell,  who  entered  eighty 
acres  just  north  of  \  oorhees  street,  this 
city,  now  the  center  of  a  fine  residential 
district. 

Quiet  prevailed  in  military  circles  in  Old 
Vermilion  until  May,  1846,  when  President 
Polk  declared  war  on  Mexico.  This  clash 
had  been  brewing  for  some  time,  and  was 
not  a  popular  war  among  the  Whigs  of  the 
county.  But  the  United  States  was  in  war. 
and  of  course  Vermilion  must  line  up. 
There  were  but  few  shirkers,  and  they  were 
not  popular. 

The  response  of  Vermilion  to  the  call  re 
suited  in  the  recruiting  of  a  company  of  in 
fantry,  numbering  ninety-six,  and  a  cav- 
alry troop  numbering  eighty-seven.  The 
latter,  however,  never  assembled,  as  it  was 
learned  that  no  units  of  this  branch  would 
be  accepted.  The  roster  of  the  infantry 
company  follows,  and  never  before  has 
been  made  public: 

Captain — Issac  R.  Moores. 

Lieutenants — Theodore  Lemon,  William 
A.  Jones. 

Sergeants — A.  C.  Spencer,  J.  B.  Alexan- 
der, H.  Sodowsky,  I.  S.  Swearingen. 

Corporals — Robert  B.  Lemon,  William 
Trimmell,  J.  C.   Marsh. 


Priv 


N.    Thurman, 

A.  Luckey, 
John   Payne, 
Henry   Jones, 
Jonathan    Beesley, 
Hiram  Coleman, 
Henry  Smith. 
Adam    Furow, 
George  Swisher, 

J.   F.   Huffman, 
Win.  Hamilton, 
Lucas    Meneely, 
Abia    Luckey, 
David   Finley, 
G.  W.  Nelson, 

B.  Runnien, 
A.   G.  Porter, 
G.    W.   Lewis, 
Ebenezer  Foster. 
Wm.    Sodowsky, 
I, even    Vincent, 
John   Norris, 
William   Draper, 
Henry  S.   Forbes, 
James  Stark, 
Joseph  V.  Davis, 
Ezra   Snow, 
Benj.    Young, 
John    Lander, 

A.  D.   Gio 
John   Sheets, 
Robert    Buoy, 
Levi  Patterson, 
Lewis    Anderson, 
John   Bennett, 
J.   W.   Chenoweth. 


ATES. 

John  Olehey, 
George   Wiley, 
I'.  McCarroll, 
Edward    Rouse, 
Thomas   Pierce, 
John   Peters, 
Wm.    Robinson, 
Matthew   Cole, 
William    Noel, 
John    Martin, 
A.  Musgrave, 
L.   L.   Madden. 
11.   Stipp, 
J,    Sodowsky, 
J.  B.  Trent; 
Milton  Hess, 
William    Parrish, 
Jefferson   Clow, 

H.    Broadwater. 

N.  J.  Norris, 
Ananias   Buoy, 
Benj.    Cassell, 
Shelton    Cannon. 
Jesse    Harris, 
Francis    Kslev. 
William    Hobbs, 
G.  W.   Smith. 
John    Stark. 
James   Price, 
Jos  i  oli    Norris, 
C.  McCorkle, 

'  cis    Preston, 

T.  Kidney, 
John  Rice. 
Jo    'i>h   \\  ilson, 

.1.    l.i ard, 


40 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


THE  IMMORTAL  LINCOLN 
"It  was  while  he  was  attending  court  at  Danville  in 
November,  1859,  that  Lincoln  definitely  accepted  the  invi- 
tation to  deliver  the  Cooper  Union  speech  in  New  York 
that  made  him  President" — Henry  Whitney's  Life  of  Lin- 
coln. 


•  '  »#»■*» 


;«  »•  •-•-; v-. -j ;»#-•-•-  v . •-•' 


.*  «.'••"**. 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


tl 


Stanley    Olmsted,         John   W.   Acre, 
Abraham    Groom,         S.   K.   Starr, 
Hugh   McGlennen,       John   Rouse, 
W.  M.  Rutledge,  David  Cremer, 

George  Stipp,  G.   Corbin, 

G.   K.  McGee,  W.    S.    Hammett, 

A.   Herring,  E.  Coleman, 

Moses  Samuel,  Musician. 
Their  intentions  were  good,  but  their 
valor  never  was  tested.  But  six  regiments 
were  taken  from  Illinois,  and  Old  Vermil- 
ion, a  Whig  stronghold,  was  not  favored. 
Despite  protests  Democratic  Governor  Ford 
refused  to  accept  the  company,  and  no  Ver- 
milion county  unit  was  found  in  the  march 
to  the  City  of  Mexico. 


THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

The  inevitable  came.  After  all  the  years 
of  argument  and  contention,  the  determina- 
tion of  the  great  issue  was  left  to  the  ar- 
bitrament of  the  sword.  The  South  fired 
on  the  flag. 

The  call  to  arms  came.  President  Lin- 
coln called  75,000  volunteers  to  serve  for 
three  months  to  put  down  the  rebellion, 
Vermilion  County  responded  to  the  call. 
Captain  Samuel  E.  Frazier  organized  a 
company,  which  was  assigned  to  the  l_'th 
Illinois   Infantry. 

The  complete  roster  follows : 

Captain — Samuel    Frazier. 

Lieutenants — William  Mann,  Joseph 
Kirkland. 

Sergeants — William  W.  Fellows,  Doc.  C. 
Bandy,   Leonard   Myers,   Charles  Jackson. 

Corporals — Daniel  M.  Nixon,  Henry 
Parks,  Joseph  M.  Daueherty. 

Musicians — Abiel  Dow.  Cornelius  W. 
Lindsay. 

Privates. 
William    Abbott,  Thos.    L.    Marshall, 

Anthony  Bowman,       Perry   F.   Miller, 
G.    W.    Bandy,  Sam    P.    MacKav, 

R.    Bloomfield,  Hugh  B.  MacKay, 

S.    Bloomfield,  Francis    Marsh, 

Kav.   Bullock,  Jacob   Moore, 

Mahlen    Buttler,  Asbury    McVicker, 

Thomas    Bowie,  Abel  Wad  Payne, 

E.   D.   Bennett,  Asa  A.  Pavne, 

J.    H.   Chilcott,  A.    L.    Richardson, 

John    Cribbage.  J.   B.   Richardson, 

James   Claypool,  John  S.  Snyder, 

Timothy    Clawson,        Oscar   S.   Stewart, 
Nicholas    Carroll,  Thomas   Short, 

J.   W.   Douglas,  George   W.   Smith. 

Joseph  Dysert,  Wm.  It.  Scott, 

James   Dixon,  Daniel   Snyder, 

James   B.    Davis,  David  Smith. 

Jos.  B.  Dixon,  David   Sibbett, 

Lysander  Doney,  John  Swannell, 

Othniel  Gilbert,  Geo.  H.  Hollett, 

R.  W.  Groves,  Henry  John, 

R.  W.  Handford,         S.  H.  Johnson, 
William    Hunt,  David  C.  Jones, 


Wm.    B.    Harris,  James  Kelley, 

J.   M.    Hendricks,  \V.    L.   Klepper, 

Ebenezer    Harger,  John  P.  Latl'ertv, 

William    Hill,  Moses   E.   Wright, 

Milton   Lee,  Joseph  Shipner, 

Joshia   Lee,  G.    M.    Search, 

Elijah    Lindsay,  John   L.  Smith, 

('has.   Mercerian,  J.  I.  Thompson, 

J.   W.   Medaris,  Jesse    Upperman, 

Wm.  M.  Myers,  R.   W.   Welch. 

Wm.   A.   Myers,  William   Worley, 

Joseph  Mondy,  Hiram  Zohn, 

But  unfortunately  three  months  did  nut 
end  the  rebellion.  Then  came  the  call  for 
300,000  men  to  serve  for  three  years  or 
during  the  war.  Soon  the  25th  Regiment, 
Illinois  Volunteers;  35th  Regiment,  Illinois 
Volunteers;  the  37th  Regiment,  Illinois 
Volunteers;  the  4th  Cavalry,  10th  Cav- 
alry, the  73rd  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteer.-, 
the  125th  Regiment,  Illinois  Volunteers; 
the  149th  Regiment  Illinois  Volunteers, 
were  organized.  Many  companies  in  these 
regiments  were  furnished  by  Vermilion 
County. 

"Eighteen  companies  of  infantry  and 
one  troop  of  cavalry  went  out  from  the 
County  during  the  Civil  War.  Practically 
all  the  125th  Volunteers,  which  holds  its 
annual  reunion  in  Danville,  were  made  up 
of  Vermilion  County  troops,  seven  com- 
panies in  all.  These  companies  averaged 
about  100  men  to  the  company.  Four 
companies  of  the  135th  Regiment  were  re- 
cruited in  Vermilion  County.  Many  vol- 
unteers from  the  County  enlisted  iii  regi- 
ments organized  in  other  counties  in  Illi- 
nois. Out  of  a  population  of  19,000  in 
Vermilion  County  more  than  3,600  men  en- 
listed and  went  to  the  front.  Vermilion 
County  escaped  the  draft.  Catlin  and 
Pilot  Townships  voted  bond  issues  and  paid 
a  bounty  to  their  soldiers.  The  following 
address  to  the  25th  Illinois  was  delivered 
by  the  brigade  commander  at  the  expira- 
tion of  its  three  years  enlistment: 

"Soldiers  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Illinois 
Volunteers:  As  your  term  of  three  years' 
service  has  expired,  and  you  are  about  to 
proceed  to  your  state  to  be  mustered  out, 
it  is  fitting  and  proper  that  the  colonel 
commanding  should  express  to  each  and 
all  his  earnest  thanks  for  the  cheerful 
manhood  with  which,  during  the  present 
campaign,  you  have  submitted  to  every 
hardship,  overcome  every  difficulty,  and  for 
the  magnificent  heroism  with  which  you 
have  met  and  vanquished  the  foe.  Your 
deportment  in  camp  has  been  worthy  true 
soldiers,  while  your  conduct  in  battle  has 
excited  the  admiration  of  your  companions 
in  arms.  Patriotic  thousands  and  a  noble 
state  will  give  you  a  reception  worthy  of 
your  sacrifice  and  your  valor.  You  have 
done    your    duty.      The    men    who    rallied 


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CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


under  the  starry  emblem  of  our  nationality 
at  Pea  Ridge,  Corinth,  Champion  Hills, 
Stone  River,  Chickamauga,  Missionary 
Ridge,  Noonday  Creek,  Pinetop  Mountain, 
Chattahoochee,  Peach  Tree  Creek  and  At- 
lanta, having  made  history  for  all  time  and 
coming  generations  to  admire,  your  services 
will  ever  be  gratefully  appreciated.  Offi- 
cers and  soldiers  farewell.  May  God  guar- 
antee to  each  health,  happiness  and  useful- 
ness in  coming  life,  and  may  our  country 
soon  emerge  from  the  gloom  of  blood  thac 
now  surrounds  it  and  again  enter  upon  a 
career  of  progress,  peace  and  prosperity." 

These  regiments,  in  which  so  many  Ver- 
milion County  men  served,  participated  in 
many,  of  the  great  battles  of  the  Civil 
War,  and  the  eloquent  address  of  the  bri- 
gade commander  might  well  and  appropri- 
ately have  been  made  to  every  command  of 
which  Vermilion  County  men  were  mem- 
bers. 

History  may  well  and  proudly  record  the 
patriotism  of  the  people  of  Vermilion 
County  during  the  great  Civil  War.  No 
other  County  in  the  Union  responded  more 
loyally  in  support  of  the  Union  than  did 
Vermilion.  All  honor  to  the  Veterans  of 
that  great  conflict,  whose  valor  saved  the 
nation.  Salute  the  survivors,  who  fought 
and  suffered  that  our  nation  might  live: 
Blessed  be  the  memory  of  those  who  have 
passed  on. 


THE    SPANISH-AMERICAN   WAR. 

Cuba  was  oppressed  by  Spain.  The 
President  of  the  United  States,  himself  a 
veteran  of  the  Civil  War,  decided  to  find 
out  the  facts.  Hon.  William  J.  Calhoun,  a 
Civil  War  Veteran,  was  the  man  chosen. 
Doubtless  his  report  to  the  President  meant 
Peace  or  War.  He  made  his  report.  War 
followed  and  Cuba  was  freed  and  Spain 
disappeared  from  the  Western  Hemisphere; 
let  us  hope  forever. 

Vermilion  County  was  represented  in  this 
war.  October  10,  1875,  Veterans  of  the 
Civil  War  organized  Battery  "A."  Many- 
men,  whose  names  are  familiar  to  most  of 
us,  were  among  the  organizers  of  this  Bat- 
tery. The  organizers  of  the  Battery  paid 
for  their  uniforms  as  there  was  no  provi- 
sion under  the  law  for  equipping  them.  In 
the  Fall,  the  members  of  the  Battery  de- 
cided to  celebrate  bv  firing  a  cannon  in  the 
Public  Square.  All  the  windows  in  the 
neighborhood  were  broken.  The  Battery 
boys  paid  for  all  the  broken  windows,  but 
no  more  cannons  were  fired  in  the  Public 
Square.  When  the  nation  declared  war 
against  Spain,  Oscar  P.  Yeager  was  the 
Captain  of  this  splendid  Battery.  Through 
the  efforts  of  Hon.  Joseph  G.  Cannon,  Bat- 
tery A  was  called  into  the  service.  It  was 
the  only  artillery  organization  in  the  State 


that  had  the  privilege  and  the  honor  so  to 
be  called.  The  Battery  participated  in  the 
Porto  Rican  campaign.  It  was  a  splendid 
military  organization. 

Vermilion  County  never  exhibited  more 
loyalty  to  our  country  than  it  did  in  the 
Spanish-American  War.  Nearly  every  man 
in  the  County  of  military  age  wanted  to 
go  into  the  military  service.  Many  men 
from  the  County  enlisted  in  other  volun- 
teer regiments  and  in  the  regular  army. 
A  pacifist  was  unknown.  Many  men  from 
this  County  served  in  the  Philippine  insur- 
rection and  the  Boxer  rebellion.  Some  are 
still  in  the  military  service.  When  the 
World  War  came,  Battery  A  was  in  splen- 
did condition,  and  was  soon  over  seas.  Its 
Captain,  Curtis  G.  Redden,  led  the  grand 
old  Battery  in  France.  His  ability  as  an 
officer  brought  him  merited  promotion. 
After  the  Armistice,  while  still  abroad  in 
the  military  service,  death  struck  him 
down. 


THE   WORLD  WAR. 

The  following  article  appeared  in  The 
American  Legion  Review.  It  was  written 
by  Mr.  John  H.  Harrison,  a  member  of 
the  State  Council  of  Defense  during  the 
World  War.  The  article  is  entitled  "Ver- 
milion County  in  the  World  War, "and  since 
it  sets  forth  so  succinctly  and  pithily  the 
participation  of  Vermilion  County  in  the 
World  War,  the  article  is  reproduced  here. 

"Vermilion  County,  Illinois,  of  which 
Danville  is  the  seat,  laid  claim  during  the 
war  to  being  the  most  patriotic  county  in 
America.  The  honor  was  disputed  but 
once,  and  that  was  by  a  small  town  in  the 
State  of  Washington.  While  that  town 
equalled  the  record  here,  this  Vermilion 
County  as  a  whole  still  holds  the  unique 
honor. 

"The  claim  was  based  on  the  fact  that 
this  county  was  not  touched  by  the  first 
draft,  because  we  had  more  volunteers  in 
service  than  the  draft  called  for.  The  rec- 
ord would  have  persisted  throughout  the 
war  if  the  government's  plan  of  giving 
credit  for  volunteers  had  prevailed  in  all 
draft  calls.  But  Uncle  Sam  conceded  that 
credit  only  in  the  first  instance.  When 
the  first  call  for  draft  was  issued  the  gov- 
ernment announced  that  the  volunteers 
from  a  county  already  in  service  would  be 
credited  against  the  quota  called  for,  and 
only  enough  drafted  men  would  be  taken 
to  make  up  the  quota.  Vermilion  County 
at  that  time  had  enough  volunteers  in  the 
service  to  be  25  per  cent  more  than  the 
draft  called  for.  Therefore  the  first  draft 
did  not  take  one  man  from  Vermilion 
County. 

"Thereafter,  when  draft  calls  were  made, 
quotas  were  assigned  and  taken  regardless 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


13 


of  how  many  volunteers  had  already  gone. 
The  volunteer  spirit  continued  in  Vermil- 
ion County  throughout  the  war,  so  that 
practically  nobody  would  have  been  drafted 
had  the  credit  "for  volunteers  been  con- 
tinued. 

"Between  five  and  six  thousand  men  were 
sent  to  the  training  camps  from  Vermilion 
County  during  the  war.  Of  this  number, 
probably  one-half  went  overseas  and  one- 
fourth  saw  active  service  in  the  front  line 
trenches. 

"A  total  of  2,117  men  were  accepted  at 
cam])  from  this  county  through  the  three 
draft  boards,  located  at  Danville,  Hoopes- 
ton,  and  Georgetown ;  Danville  sending 
904;  Hoopeston  591,  and  Georgetown  622. 
Three  draft  registrations  were  made  dur- 
ing the  war,  Danville  registering  a  total  of 
7,501,  Hoopeston  5,468,  and  Georgetown 
,~>..">77.  The  Hoopeston  district  extended 
down  to  Danville  and  the  Georgetown  dis- 
trict consisted  of  the  rest  of  the  county, 
the  Danville  district  being  composed  of  the 
City  of  Danville  alone. 

"Various  patriotic  organizations  began 
early  to  assist  in  winning  shortly  after  the 
war  was  declared.  In  fact,  two  of  these 
organizations  in  Danville  got  to  work  be- 
fore the  various  military  organizations  left 
the  city.  Camp  Egbert,  United  Spanish 
War  Veterans,  composed  of  ex-service  men 
who  served  during  the  Spanish-American 
war,  undertook  the  task  of  furnishing  the 
three  organizations  with  a  mess  fund, 
knowing  more  than  the  civilians  did  just 
what  the  soldiers  would  need.  Other  or- 
ganizations assisted,  and  by  means  of  tag 
days  the  mess  funds  were  secured.  Battery 
A  was  given  its  money,  S465,  at  Ft.  Sheri- 
dan on  the  eve  of  leaving  for  France; 
Company  I  received  its  fund,  $345,  at  East 
Alton  before  going  to  the  Texas  training 
camp,  and  Company  L  was  taken  care  of 
before  it  left  Danville,  receiving  $345. 

"The  Woman's  Military  Auxiliary,  com- 
posed for  the  most  part  of  mothers  and  sis- 
ters of  the  soldiers,  was  organized  early  in 
April,  1917,  and  was  functioning  as  an  or- 
ganized body  when  the  boot  fund  was 
raised,  to  furnish  hip  boots  for  the  Vermil- 
ion County  soldiers  going  to  France.  This 
fund  was  started  after  a  story  appeared 
in  a  Chicago  newspaper  to  the  effect  that 
Chicago  citizens  would  equip  their  soldiers 
in  the  149th  artillery,  to  which  the  Dan- 
ville Battery  belonged,  with  rubber  boots. 
It  was  taken  up  by  the  newspapers  of  Dan- 
ville and  subscriptions  were  received  at 
their  offices.  The  auxiliary  also  saw  to  it 
that  each  soldier  who  went  from  Danville 
was  furnished  with  a  kit  consisting  of 
brushes,  towels,  soap,  etc. 

"Hip  boots  were  furnished  Battery  A 
soldiers    before    they    left    New    York    for 


France,  and  they  were  of  great  benefit  to 
the  Danville  boys  that  first  winter  in 
France,  and  probably  a  number  of  them 
now  living  owe  their  lives  to  the  thought- 
fulness  of  the  citizens  of  their  home  town, 
for  the  mud  was  deep  and  the  rainy  season 
was   on   when   they   arrived   in   France. 

"The  Danville  Battery  received  $1,160 
for  hip  trench  boots  and  they  took  the 
boots  with  them  when  they  went  overseas. 
Shortly  after  the  boots  were  purchased, 
the  government  purchased  the  entire  outpul 
from  the  various  boot  factories  and  assum- 
ed the  task  of  equipping  the  American 
soldiers  with  trench  boots.  Danville  citizens 
could  purchase  no  more,  so  the  money  left 
in  the  fund  was  divided  between  the  other 
two  companies  and  distributed  upon  their 
return  to  Danville  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

"The  war  had  not  progressed  far  until 
Red  Cross  organizations  were  formed  in 
every  city,  town  and  community.  Various 
other  organizations,  every  one  bent  on  back- 
ing up  the  soldiers  to  the  fullest  extent, 
were  also  formed.  Food  was  conserved  that 
the  soldiers  might  have  the  very  best  while 
winning  the  war. 

"The  state  council  of  defense,  with  its 
county  organizations,  the  neighborhood 
committees,  the  High  Twelve  Club,  Rotary 
Club,  various  lodge  organizations, — all  com- 
bined their  efforts  towards  the  one  object — 
to  win  the  war  in  the  quickest  possible  time. 
Through  the  efforts  of  the  neighborhood 
committee,  loyalty  pledges  were  sent  to 
every  person  in  the  county  above  the  age 
of  18.  Out  of  a  population  of  approximately 
76,000,  pledges  were  received  from  44,129. 
Only  2,203  refused  to  sign.  A  little  more 
than  one-half  or  23,384  persons,  in  Dan- 
ville signed,  while  in  Danville  Township, 
outside  the  city,  there  were  2,513.  Grant 
township  came  next,  with  4,026,  and  the 
Soldiers  Home  furnished  1,556  more.  These 
pledges  showed  beyond  a  doubt  that  the 
people  of  Vermilion  County  were  backing 
their  soldiers. 

"Patriotic  demonstrations  were  held  in 
almost  every  community,  flag  raisings  were 
popular  everywhere  and  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  floated  from  almost  every  public 
building  and  business  house  and  from  thou- 
sands of  residences. 

"This  sort  of  patriotism  is  a  tradition 
with  Vermilion  County.  It  did  not  begin 
with  the  World  War.  It  dates  back  to  the 
tally  Indian  Wars,  including  the  Black 
Hawk  affair,  down  through  the  Mexican, 
Civil  and  Spanish-American  wars.  Ver- 
milion County  has  always  been  considered 
a  patriotic  county,  furnishing  its  full  quota 
of  soldiers  in  evers  conflict  in  which  the 
United  States  has  been  engaged,  so  it  was 
but    natural    that    Danville    and    Vermilion 


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CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


County  should  be  in  the  forefront  when 
the  United  States  entered  the  great  world 
conflict. 

"When  the  World  War  came  there  were 
four  military  organizations  in  the  county: 
Battery  A,  1st  Illinois  Field  Artillery,  Dan- 
ville; Company  I,  5th  Illinois  Infantry, 
Danville;  Company  L,  8th  Illinois  In- 
fantry, colored;   and  Company  B,  3rd  Illi- 


nois Infantry,  Hoopeston.  All  these  organi- 
zations were  immediately  called  into  ac- 
tive service,  Company  I  going  to  East  Al- 
ton even  before  war  was  declared.  All  saw 
service   overseas. 

"Vermilion  County,  Illinois,  has  just 
cause  to  be  proud  of  her  record  in  all 
matters  that  call  for  patriotic  sacrifice  in 
behalf  of  the  country." 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS 
Who  Delivered  an  Address  in  Danville,  September  22,  1858. 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  of  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


45 


FCEANNEKEUK'S  SERMON  TO  THE 
WHITE  SETTLERS 

(From  the  Illinois  Monthly  Magazine,  at  Vandalia,  Illinois.  August,  1831) 


This  discourse  of  Keannekeuk,  an  Indian 
chief  of  the  Kickapoo  tribe  of  Indians,  was 
delivered  at  Danville,  Illinois,  July  IT.  1831. 
The  citizens  of  the  town  and  its  vicinity 
had  assembled  at  a  Baptist  meeting,  and 
this    Indian,    who    with    a    part    of   his    tribe 

was  encamped  in  the  neighbor!) 1.  and  in 

the  habit  of  preaching  to  his  tribe,  was 
informed  that  the  white  people  wished  to 
hear  his  discourse.  He  requested  G.  I). 
Hubbard,  Esq.,  who  understands  the  lan- 
guage, to  interpret  Tor  him.  The  congrega- 
tion went  to  the  Indian  encampment  early 
in  the  day,  and  before  preaching  com- 
menced in  the  town.  The  chief  caused  mats 
to  be  spread  upon  the  ground  for  his  while 
audience  to  sit  upon.  His  Indian  brethren 
were  also  seated  near  him ;  he  then  com- 
menced and  addressed  the  assembly  for  al- 
most an  hour.  .Mi-.  Hubbard  repeated  with 
great  distinctness  and  perspicuity,  each 
sentence,  as  spoken  by  the  chief,  and  which 
was  accurately  written  down  at  the  time  by 
Solomon  Banta,  Esq.  It  is  proper  to  re- 
mark, that  Keannekeuk  was  at  one  time 
give  to  intemperate.  About  four  years 
since,  he  reformed,  and  is  now  esteemed  a 
correct,  pious  and  excellent  man.  He  has 
acquired  an  astonishing  influence  over  his 
red  brethren  and  has  induced  all  of  his 
particular  tribe,  supposed  to  be  near  two 
hundred,  and  about  one  hundred  Potawato- 
mies  who  have  been  inveterate  drunkards, 
to  abstain  entirely  from  the  use  of  ardent 
spirits.  It  is  proper  further  to  remark  thai 
Keannekeuk  is  called  a  prophet  among  the 
Indians,  but  is  not  the  old  prophet,  brother 
to  Tecumseh,  who  is  known  to  be  not  less 
odius  among  the  Indians  than  among  the 
white,  nor  is  he  related  to  him.  Keanne- 
keuk appears  to  be  about  forty  years  of 
age;  is  over  the  ordinary  size;  and  although 
an  untutored  savage,  has  much  in  his  man- 
ner and  personal  appearance  to  make  him 
interesting.  He  is  much  attached  to  the 
white,  and  has  had  his  son  at  school,  with 
a  view  to  give  him  an  education. 

The  speech  now  presented  for  publication 
derives  much  of  its  interest  from  the  fact 
that  it  is  the  discourse  of  an  uneducated 
man  of  the  forest,  who  is  believed  to  have 
done  more  in  his  sphere  of  action  in  the 
cause  of  temperance,  than  any  other  man 
has  effected,  armed  with  all  the  power 
which  is  conferred  by  learning  and  talent. 
The  fact  of  the  influence  attributed  to 
Keannekeuk  upon  this  subject  is  fully  at- 
tested   by    gentlemen    who    are    intimately 


acquainted  with  these  Indians,  and  have 
known  them  for  many  years,  and  is,  there- 
fore, entitled  to  the  fullest  confidence. 

"MY  FRIENDS:  Where  are  your 
thoughts  today?  Where  were  theyr  yester- 
day? Were  they  fixed  upon  doing  good? 
or  were  you  drunk,  tattling,  or  did  angei 
rest  in  your  hearts?  If  you  have  done  an;. 
of  these  things,  your  Great  Father  in  hea- 
ven knows  it.  His  eye  is  upon  you.  He  al- 
ways sees  you,  and  will  always  see  you.  He 
knows  all  your  needs.  He  has  know-ledge  of 
the  smallest  transactions  of  your  lives. 
Would  you  not  be  ashamed  if  your  friends 
knew  all  your  bad  thoughts  and  actions? 
and  are  you  not  ashamed  that  your  Great 
Father  knows  them,  and  that  He  marks 
them  nicely?  You  would  be  ashamed  of  ap- 
pearing here  to-day  with  bloated  faces  and 
swelled  eyes,  accasioned  by  drunkenness. 
You  will  one  day  have  to  go  down  to  the 
earth ;  what  will  you  do  then,  if  you  have 
not  followed  your  Great  Father's  advice, 
and  kept  His  Commandments?  He  has 
given  us  a  small  path ;  it  is  hard  to  be  fol- 
lowed;  He  tell  you  it  leads  to  happiness. 

"Some  of  you  are  discouraged  from  fol- 
lowing this  path,  because  it  is  difficult  to 
find.  You  take  the  broad  road  that  leads  to 
misery.  But  jtou  ought  not  to  be  discour- 
aged; mind  the  book  he  has  given  for  your 
instruction;  attend  to  its  commands,  and 
obey  them,  and  each  step  you  take  in  this 
narrow  path  will  be  easier;  the  way  will  be- 
come smoother,  and  at  the  end,  great  will 
be  the  reward.  The  broad  road  some  of  you 
choose,  is  full  of  wide  and  deep  pits;  they 
are  filled  with  fire  for  the  punishment  of 
all  wicked  and  ill  men.  All  professed  drunk- 
ards, tattlers,  liars,  and  meddling  bodies 
are  in  the  broad  way;  they  can  never  be 
received  into  good  places;  their  deeds  are 
dark;  they  never  see  light.  Parents  who  do 
not  teach  their  children  the  difference  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  are  in  the  bad  road. 
Youi  Great  Father  once  came  into  this 
world.  He  came  but  once,  and  stayed  but  a 
short  time;  that  is  the  reason  the  good  path 
is  so  narrow. 

"The  bad  spirit  is  with  you  always;  he 
is  abroad  upon  the  face  id'  the  earth,  and 
traveling  in  all  places;  that  is  the  reason 
why  the  way  that  leads  to  misery  is  so 
broad. 

"The  Great  Father  gave  you  a  good  book 
filled  with  commands.  If  you  follow  the 
commands,  you  will  go  into  a  good  place 
and    be   happy   forever;   but   if  you  do  not 


4(1 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  YKRMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


keep  them  you  will  go  into  a  place  prepared 
for  the  wicked,  and  suffer  endless  days  and 
nights  of  grief.  Some  of  you  think  you 
can  indulge  in  drink  once,  and  then  you 
resolve  to  follow  the  good  commands.  But 
are  you  sure,  if  you  do  indulge  once,  you 
can  refrain  for  the  time  to  come? 

"Your  Great  Father  sees  all  you  do.  Is 
it  not  almost  certain  that  you  will  always 
be  repeating  bad  deeds?  You  are  all  sin- 
ners; you  can  not  be  too  much  on  yo  ir 
guard,  lest  you  tread  out  of  the  right  way 
into  the  broad  road.  His  eye  notices  the 
smallest  thing,  and  if  you  wish  to  be  good, 
your  thoughts  must  be  on  your  Great 
Father  always;  He  takes  pleasure  when  he 
sees  you  thoughts  are  placed  on  Him.  If 
you  would  all  be  good  you  would  all  travel 
one  road,  and  there  would  be  but  one  road, 
and  your  Great  Father  would  be  with  you 
always.  But  this  can  not  be;  every  one 
knows  when  he  is  doing  good,  and  if  he 
is  always  conscious  of  doing  good,  he  will 
be  received  by  the  Great  Father;  therefore 
guard  with  care  every  step  you  take  in  your 
life.  One  step  a  day  in  the  narrow  road  is 
better  than  fifteen  steps  a  day  in  the  road 
to  ruin.  The  door  of  heaven  is  always 
open,  and  the  Great  Father  is  glad  to  re- 
ceive his  children;  those  who  go  there  will 
have  happiness  without  end — will  see  their 
Great  Father,  and  live  with  him,  and  neve- 
be  without  Him.  If  young  folks  would 
but  hold  as  fast  to  the  good  book  as  old  and 
crippled  people  do  to  their  canes  which  sup- 
port them  there  would  be  no  danger  of 
disobeying  its  commands.  Every  day  you 
obey  Him  the  better  it  is  for  you,  and  tbi 
easier  it  is  for  you  to  follow  the  good  path. 
You  must  always  notice  well  where  you 
step,  for  fear  you  may  be  tempted  out  of 
the  right  path."  When  you  see  assemblies 
of  amusement,  you  ought  to  reflect  that  to 
enter  those  mav  lead  you  to  do  things  con- 
trary to  your  Great  Fathers  will. 

"He  has  said  he  will  help  those  who  keep 
His  commands;  therefore  you  must  always 
notice  your  hearts;  the  heart  is  the  foun- 
tain from  which  good  or  evil  thoughts  flow. 
You  are  not  mere  forms,  incapable  of 
knewledge,  but  the  Great  Father  has  so 
made  you  that  you  may  get  a  knowledge 
within' yourselves,  and  if  you  are  good,  you 
will  always  see  Him;  if  you  place  your 
thoughts  upon  Him,  He  will  never  desert 
you;  but  they  who  do  not  place  their 
thoughts  upon"  Him  will  be  deserted — they 
travel  the  broad  road  and  fall  into  the  pit; 
their  lot  is  fixed — they  can  not  touch,  nor 
see  good;  they  will  be  endless  darkness— 
they  never  can  see  their  friends,  their 
father,  mother,  brothers  or  sisters;  their 
friends  will  be  always  grieving  for  them — 
they  go  where  none  but  fools  go,  such  as 
drunkards,    liars,    tattlers,    and    those    who 


treat  old  people  ill ;  they  never  can  taste 
good;  nothing  can  mitigate  their  sorrow 
and  the  torment  they  suffer.  What  will 
become  of  those  wicked  men  who  slight  the 
commands  of  their  Great  Father?  He  gave 
them  a  book  containing  instructions  to  en- 
lighten them.  Who  made  that  book?  The 
Great  Father  made  it  for  their  good;  long 
ago  he  made  it,  that  their  and  our  hearts 
might  be  strong,  and  that  by  reading  it  you 
might  see  Him,  and  that  you  might  not  lose 
yourselves;  a  long  time  ago  He  gave  th's 
to  instruct  His  children, — and  can  there 
yet  be  such  fools  as  will  not  receive  in- 
struction from  so  good  a  Father? 

"The  Great  Father,  by  His  Son,  once 
came  upon  earth;  many  people  saw  Him; 
He  came  in  the  form  of  a  man,  and  stayed 
a  short  time  on  the  earth  with  His  children. 
He  is  to  come  once  more,  when  the  wicked 
will  not  be  noticed  by  Him — a  great  many 
hundreds  will  be  lost;  then  we  will  see  who 
had  obeyed  His  book,  and  kept  His  com- 
mands. If  your  hearts  are  fixed  on  your 
Great  Father,  He  will  be  pleased;  but  if 
they  are  not,  where  will  you  be  going?  No 
supplication  will  then  avail — you  will  have 
no  opportunity  to  kneel  to  Him — the  time 
is  past,  He  will  not  allow  it;  your  friends 
can  not  intercede,  fear  will  overwhelm  you, 
you  will  wish  to  make  new  resolutions  to 
obey  Him,  but  you  can  not,  you  will  go  to 
the  burning  pits. 

"Your  Great  Father  has  implanted  in 
your  hearts  a  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, 
and  shown  you  how  to  obey  Him;  if  you  do 
not,  the  time  will  come  when  you  will  not 
see  yourselves  as  you  are — you  will  be  lost 
in  darkness — all  your  former  wickedness 
will  prey  upon  you.  Friends,  you  all  see 
my  brothers  (pointing  to  his  Indian  breth- 
ren) they  do  not  drink  strong  liquors  as 
they  once  did;  they  do  not  shake  their  fists 
at  you  and  abuse  you;  they  do  not  quarrel 
with  each  other.  Their  thoughts  are  upoi 
their  Great  Father;  they  are  not  liars  and 
tattlers,  fond  of  ridiculiing  old  folks  and 
children,  as  they  used  to  be;  their  conduct 
toward  their  children  is  different.  For  a 
long  time  they  have  refrained  from  the  bad 
practices  of  stealing  and  drunkenness; 
their  Great  Father  will  receive  them  into 
His  own  place,  where  they  will  be  happy; 
they  will  never  hunger  nor  thirst;  they  will 
see  their  children  around  them;  their  Great 
Father  loves  their  hearts,  for  they  are 
strong.  Why,  then,  should  they  not  love 
Him?  He  tells  them  He  loves  them:  He 
gives  them  an  opportunity  to  know  Him; 
the  Great  Father  has  instilled  into  them  a 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  by  His  works; 
He  has  not  instructed  them  by  books.  He 
loves  His  children  both  red  and  white.  I 
have  done." 


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CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


Ollir  OMrial  ^misors 


-L> 


FOR  THE  COUNTY  OF  VERMILION 


Fred  R.  Lloyd,  Chairman 


Biount C.  E.  Vandervort 

Butler      Scott  Johnston 

Carroll J.  A.  McMillan 

Catlin Fred  R.  Lloyd 

Danville W.  F.  Baum 

Danville John  L.  Bracewell 

Danville Thomas  J.  Cossey 

Danville    John  W.  Dale 

Danville Walter  V.  Dysert 

Danville J.  E.  Epler 

Danville Henry  Hulce 

Danville C.  G.  Jamison 

Danville    -      .  .Frank  A.  Johnson 

Danville Fred  J.  Lovell 

Danville Frank  P.  Meyer 

Danville    ...    George  W.  Mm  ire 

Danville Wm.  F.  Sheets 

Danville B.  H.  Snyder 

Danville Harley  Tarpley 


Danville    .  J.  W.  Telling 

Danville  .  .      .  .  Robert  I.  Pettigrew 

Elwood John  Fletcher,  Sr. 

Georgetown...   G.  E.  Blayney 
Georgetown ....  William  Mover 
Georgetown...   J.  T.  Pitchford 

Grant Charles  E.  Cox 

Grant Isaac  E.  Merritt 

Grant Dan  R.  Miller 

Jamaica Earl  M.  Brown 

Love Olen  Henderson 

McKendree A.  W.  Haworth 

Middlefork  . .  .  .Elmer  J.  Wise 

Newell E.  D.  Brown 

Oakwood F.  L.  Endicott 

Pilot Chas.  G.  Juvinall 

Ross U.  G.  Fairchilds 

Sidell Wade  A.  Holton 

Vance A.  W.  Cast 


-□- 

FOR  THE  CITY  OF  DANVILLE 
Claude  P.  Madden,  Chairman 


Henry  J.  Schroeder 
Joseph  Schatz 
Harry  W.  Moore 
Elmer  Martin 
Edward  Harmel 
Robert  Hart 
Clyde  Meharry 


John  W.  Robb 
Merle  Watt 
Otis  Jones 
Ora  W.  Servies 
D.  L.  Whiteford 
Grant  Hiatt 
Arch  Johnson 


CENTENNIAL  IN  ><  n<  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


49 


Ufrmiluut  (SJmuttii  (Unttrumal  (Erlrbntttmt 


-D- 


OFPICIALS 

J<  iin  G.  Hartshorn,  President. 

M.    |.  Wolfokd,  Treasurer. 
A i  i  an  T.  Gordi  in,  V,  retary. 

— D- 
EXECUTiVE  COMMITTEE 


FOR  THE  COUNTV 

Thomas  J.  Cossey,  Danville 
Henrv  Hulce,  Danville 
Fred  Lloyd,  G1///11 
Frank  Meyer,  Danville 
Fred  Lovell,  Danville 
William  P.  Sheets,  Danville 


FOR  THE  CITY 

Henry  J.  Schroeder,  Danville 
i  H  i    Jones,  Danville 
( >.  W.  Servies,  Danville 
Elmer  Martin,  Danville 
J.  W.  Robb,  Danville 


— O- 

OTHER  COMMITTEES 

HISTORICAL:    John  H.  Lewman,  Chairman. 

Hon.  Joseph  G.  Cannon,  Senator  M.  B.  Bailey,  Miss  Lotte  Jones,   Miss  Flo 

Woodbury. 

OFFICIAL  SOUVENIR  BOOK:     A.  F.  Barker,  Chairman, 
Norman  Dale,  Ezekiel  Epstein. 

PAGEANT:      THOMAS  J.  COSSEY,  Chairman. 

Joseph  J.  Smith,  Guy  Supple,  D.  R.  Swaim,  Harry  J.  Brown,  Don  Wilson. 

FINANCE:      Henry  J.  Si  HROEDER,  Chairman. 
Stanley  Myers,  Joseph  Uhlein. 

LABOR  UNIONS:     Frank  J.  Levin,  Chairman. 

AGRICULTURE:     Otis  Keri  her,  Chairman. 

DECORATIONS:     Frank  P.  Meyer,  Chairman. 

MUSIC:    G.  Haven  Stephens,  Chairman. 

SPEAKERS:     James  A.  Meek-,  Chairman. 

QUEEN  CONTEST:     Fred  Lloyd,  Chairman, 

W.  P.  Sheets,  Henry  Hulce,   John  H.  Harrison,   Mrs.   Melvin   L.  Coutant, 
Mr-.  L.  H.  Dunham,  Mrs.  S.  R.  Driskell,  Mrs.  E.  G.  C.  Williams. 

PARADE:      K.  C.  ROTTGER,   Chairman. 

\V i    II.  Martin,  Capt.  L.  A.  Tuggle,  E.  Dean  Huber. 

CONCESSIONS:    Otis  Jones,  Chairman. 

RELICS:     GEORGE  REARICK,  Chairman. 
Member-  of  Half-Century  Club. 

cover  DESIGN:    Harlan  Steely  Jr.,  Roy  Schoenbeck. 


50 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


VERMILION  COUNTY'S  SECOND  COURT  HOUSE  AND  JAIL 
Built  by  Gurdon  Hubbard  in  1833.     Burned  in  1873. 


LITERATORS  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY 


Vermilion  County  has  produced  but  four 
people  who  have  attained  renoun  in  the 
World  of  Letters,  and  by  strange  co-inci- 
dence each  of  these  was  an  authority  on 
Early  Illinois  history.  First  of  all  was  the 
late  Hiram  Beckwith,  whose  "History  of  the 
Northwest"  never  has  had  an  equal  and 
whose  "History  of  Vermilion  County"  is 
regarded  by  students  as  the  most  complete 
history  of  an  Illinois  county  ever  printed. 

Miss  Lotte  E.  Jones,  of  Danville,  whose 
"Decisive  Dates  in  Illinois  History"  still  is 
a  text-book,  and  whose  "History  of  Ver- 
milion County,"  ably  filled  the  gap  between 
that  of  the  Beckwith  book  and  the  Twen- 
tieth century. 

Mrs.  Mary  Hartwell  Catherwood,  of 
Hoopeston,  whose  romances  of  the  early 
Jesuits   and   French   explorers   still   have   a 


ready  sale,  had  delved  deeply  into  the  story 
of  early  Illinois  and  was  regarded  as  an 
authority. 

Joseph  Kirkland,  of  Danville,  after  his 
removal  to  Chicago,  was  the  author  of  two 
historical  novels,  one  of  which  had  for  its 
hero  the  grandfather  of  a  prominent  Dan- 
villean,  and  whose  "History  of  Chicago"  is 
considered  second  only  to  that  of  A.  T. 
Andreas. 

Added  to  this  may  be  mentioned  the  name 
of  Guy  T.  Robinson,  Danville  newspaper- 
man, who  is  a  student  of  Early  Illinois,  and 
who  has  added  many  real  contributions  to 
Vermilion  County  history  through  the  col- 
umns of  the  newspapers,  which,  it  is  hoped, 
may  some  day  be  collected  and  issued  in 
book  form. 

— C.  C.  T. 


^  ••  •  •' 


.-  - .  -  *#•*•*»■••'-  *»V4»  *  "_v :**v«»  v.'v. ••-•■•w 


'#-*-•' 


.%.■.«/ 


•.v^.:»,;#>;*\\ 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  51 


To  the  Memory  of 

Amos  Williams 


He  first  located  at  Butler's  Point  where  the 
first  Circuit  Court  was  held  in  this  County.  He 
assisted  in  surveying  the  County  and  laying 
off  the  County  Seat,  and  drew  all  the  Plats.  He 
built  the  first  house  in  the  city  in  which  he  has 
lived  ever  since — on  Clark  street. 

He  was  elected  County  Clerk,  Clerk  of  the 
Commissioners  Court,  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  Judge  of  Probate  Court,  County  Re- 
corder, Register  of  Saline  Lands,  Master  in 
Chancery,  Post  Master,  and  Notary  Public. 

All  these  offices  he  held  uninterruptedly 
from  the  organization  of  this  County  till  1843, 
and  some  of  them  till  1849,  a  period  of  23 
years.  As  a  County  officer,  he  was  remarkably 
faithful  and  attentive  to  his  business,  scrupu- 
lously exact  and  correct  in  his  transactions, 
kind  and  obliging  to  all  who  sought  instruction. 

Hence  he  was  deservedly  and  universally 
popular  among  the  people,  and  for  many  years 
it  was  the  prevailing  opinion  that  no  one  was 
qualified  to  do  County  business  well,  but  Amos 
Williams. 

No  charge  was  ever  brought  against  him  for 
either  the  want  of  competency  or  fidelity  in  the 
discharge  of  any  of  the  duties  of  his  offices. 

The  influence  of  his  correct  business  habits 
will  be  felt  in  this  and  other  Counties  long 
after  he  is  forgotten. 

"Peace  to  his  ashes." 

(Copied   from   Vermilion   County    Republican, 
G.  Price,  Editor,  November,  1857.) 


52 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


HOTEL  WOLFORD 


DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 


-^  " .-.Wh  f-r   rP    FFi 


OPEN  NOVEMBER,  1926 


HOTELS  HELP 
COMMUNITIES  GROW 


*~ 


--*- -#•-«»  .v-.'»  •-**  - ---•»••-«•  »vw»»  ••'.»-;*-•*  *:r\*.»_^;*  ^*v»  ^:*  *:4.\» 


CENTENNIAL  Book  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


53 


r 


The  home  of  your  old  friends,  tried  and  true 


Tea  Table-Early  Dinner-Mother's  Pride 

FOOD  PRODUCTS 


EARLY  DINNER  COFFEE 
"You  Can't  Mistake  the  Flavor" 

Roasted  and  Packed  by 

Peyton-Palmer  Co. 

DANVILLE,  ILL. 


54  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


J.  I..  Tincher.  President  C.   P.   Nelson,  Cashier 

E.  R.  E.  Kimbkocgh,  Vice  President  C.  E.  Olmsted.  Assistant  Cashier 

B.  C.  English.   1  ;.  <    President  W.  J.   Bamm.  Assistant  Cashier 

J.  E.  Whitman.  Assistant  Cashier 


First  National  Bank 

of 
DANVILLE,  ILL. 


nn 

nnn 

nn 


ESTABLISHED  1857 


nn 

nnn 

nn 


Capital      -------     S300.000.00 

Surplus  and  Undivided  Profits    -    S200.000.00 


nn 

nnn 

nn 


DIRECTORS 

E.  R.  E.  Kimbrough  D.  W.  Bell 

J.  L.  Tincher  James  A.  aIeeks 

B-  C.  English  C.  P.  Nelson 

E.  G.  Stephens 


CENTENNIAL  \i(»  >K  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  55 


SECOND 
NATIONAL  BANK 


DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 


Capital  and  Surplus  $500,000 


Established  in  1873 


56  I  ENTENNIAL  ECCK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


The 

Palmer  National  Bank 

DANVILLE,  ILL. 


Capital     -     -     -     -    $300,000.00 
Surplus    -     -     -     -     $150,000.00 

nnn 

We  receive  the  accounts  of  Banks,  Bankers,  Corporations,  Firms 
and  Individuals  on  favorable  terms  and  will  be  pleased  to  meet  or  cor- 
respond with  those  who  contemplate  making  changes  or  opening  new 
accounts. 

nnn 

TRUST  DEPARTMENT 

This  Bank  is  authorized  to  act  in  the  following  capacities:  Executor, 
Trustee,  Conservator,  Guardian,  Receiver  or  any  other  Trust  Capacity. 

nnn 

OFFICERS 

M.  J.  Wolford,  President  C-  A.  White,  Asst-  Cashier 

Thos.  Conron,  Vice-President       J.  E.  McMillan,  Asst.  Cashier 
J.  E.  Walker,  Cashier  Stanley  Mires,  Asst.  Cashier 

DIRECTORS 

M.  J.  Wolford  C.  W.  Bandy 

Thos.  Conron  C.  K.  Palmer 

D.  M.  Fowler  W.  C.  Rankin 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

Keeping  Step  with  the 

Tears 

nnn 


From  the  quill  pen  and  bound  book  to  the  bookkeep- 
ing machine  and  loose  leaf  ledger — 

From  the  old  cash  till  to  the  automatic  money 
changer — 

From  the  old  time  bank  to  the  modern  financial 

institution   with   its   departments   to   serve   every 

banking  need,  its  heavy  concrete  vaults  guarded  by 

non-burnable  steel  doors,   time  locks  and   electric 

burglar  alarm  systems — 

Part  of  the  progress  banks  have  made  during  the 

decades. 

This  bank  has  endeavored  to  keep  pace  with  the 
business  and  personal  needs  of  the  people  of  Ver- 
milion County  and  in  its  new  bank  home  offers  un- 
surpassed banking  facilities  to  its  community. 


nnn 

Commercial 
Trust  and  Savings  Bank 

BAUM      BUILDING 

41-43  N.  Vermilion  St. 
"A  Real  Bank  in  a  Live  Town." 


58  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


American  Bank  &  Trust  Co. 

Danville,  Illinois 


□ 

nnn 
n 


Capital,  Surplus  and  Profits, 
over  $300,000 


n 

nnn 

n 


OFFICERS 

A.  M.  BUSHNELL,  President 

W.  M.  ACTON,  Vice-President 
JAMES  A.  FOSTER,  Cashier 

L.  O.  FROMAN,  Ass't  Cashier 

E.  H.  BLEVEANS,  Ass't  Cashier 


CENTENNIAL  ROOK   OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

3Ft&FittjT  SnwBtmmt  $c  Buttfting 
Asportation 

137  N.  VERMILION  ST. 
All  Through  the  Years — the  Essentials  of  Sound  Investments 

SAFETY    OF    PRINCIPAL 

ASSURANCE  OF  INCOME 

(6',  for  43  Years) — Convertible 

1884  J.  W.  WEBSTER,  Sec'y.  1926 


59 
-.4. 


60  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


Danville  Benefit  &  Building 
Association 

THE  OLDEST  ASSOCIATION  IN  DANVILLE 
Organized  March  1,  1877 

ASSETS  $6,174,507.91 

Pre-paid  stock  $50.00  per  share  for  sale  now.    Six  per  cent  compound 
interest  paid.    No  monthly  dues.    New  series  Sept.  4th. 

MUM 

M.  J.  WOLFORD,  Secretary 

No.  6  E.  Main  Street— Telephone  345 


ri-NTENMAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 


61 


<V^i  «VN5 «V\^  «v:\U  «VN?  VN^  Vs? ^^ *V^  «V^  VN^  <V /^  H^n?  "V \?  VsJ;  *V N?  "V "^  Vs?  Vs?  **/-•■£  «V^  V^ 


Ammratt  Builirtng 
AaanrtattDn 

OF  DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 


LOUIS  PLATT,  Secretary 

OFFICE  411-13-15  THE  TEMPLE 


, ^ q,-;^  "V  s^  V^£  «*/ ^  JV  ^  *V^  V-^  V^  "VNJ  «V  .^  1'  ^  V:^  V^  H^  Vn?  «V;;^  ^  ^  "VN?  V>?  "V -^ 


62  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


THE  FUTURE 

Won't  take  care  of  itself 

Save  part  of  your  income 
NOW 

Vermilion  County 
Building  Association 

141  N.  Vermilion  St. 

H.  C.  ADAMS,  Sec'y 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  I  V  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  63 


COLOR 

IN  GOOD  TASTE 

Is  the  keynote  of  modern  building 


Our  special  blends  of  fine  face  brick — 

"PASTEL" 

"PATRICIAN" 

"COMMUNITY" 
"TUXEDO" 
"COLEUS" 

"HEATHER  MIX" 


The  Danville  Brick  Co. 

DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 


;>  ^'->  y~\*  .,'-> 


64  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


48  Years  of  Age 

Never  Lost  a  Cent  for  an  Investor 

6%  COMPOUND  INTEREST 
Paid  to  All  Investors  Alike 

Withdrawals  Paid  on  Demand 


Equitable 
Building  Association 

E.  R.  PARTLOW,  Secy 
25  West  Main  St.  Danville,  111. 


J 


CENTENNIAL   H<  ><  >K  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS  65 


Jin  iKrmnrtam 

-O- 

JAMES  BUTLER 

Vermilion  County's  First  Dirt  Farmer 

He  came  here  in  the  Spring  of  1820,  and 
planted  a  crop  in  Catlin  Township — the  first 
cultivated  field  in  the  Vermilion  Prairies. 

-□- 

VERMILION  COUNTY  FARM  BUREAU, 

Chamber  of  Commerce  Building. 


66  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


Welcome  Danville  Guests 


AN  OCCASION  like  this,  when  Danville  plays  host  to  thousands  of 
men,  women  and  children,  gives  us  a  peculiar  opportunity  to  express 
the  Spirit  which  actuates  our  store.  We  would  show  our  sincere 
welcome  to  all — by  extending  to  each  and  every  one,  every  accommodation 
in  our  power  during  your  stay  in  the  city. 

In  getting  acquainted  with  the  Straus  and  Louis  Company,  you  will  prob- 
ably wish  to  know  something  of  the  ideals,  purposes,  and  the  policies  back 
of  this  store. 

Our  governing  ideal  is  so  to  conduct  this  store  that  it  will  deserve,  win  and 
hold  the  ever-increasing  confidence,  good  will,  and  patronage  of  the  public. 
We  believe  that  to  hold  your  trade  we  must  give  you  a  better  service  than 
you  can  get  elsewhere — better  in  having  the  very  goods  you  want — safe- 
guarding quality  and  keeping  the  prices  to  the  lowest  level  at  which  quality 
can  be  bought. 

Better  in  style  and  value — better  in  convenience — better  in  promptness,  and 
general  satisfaction. 

This  we  frankly  undertake  to  do,  and  this  we  claim  to  offer  you.  As  you 
get  better  acquainted  with  this  store  and  its  ways  of  doing  business  we 
believe  you  will  discover  that  you  can  always  trust  on  sight  every  piece  of 
merchandise  we  offer,  every  statement  we  make,  every  promise  we  give, 
and  every  price  we  name. 

We  want  you  to  feel  that  this  is  "your  store,"  that  it  has  developed  in  re- 
sponse to  the  demands  of  your  needs.  To  these  ends  we  pledge  the  per- 
petual efforts  of  our  organization. 

You  are  invited  to  make  this  store  your  HEADQUARTERS  whenever  you 
are  in  Danville. 

LOOK  to  Straus  and  Louis  for  the  first  showing 
of  a  new  fashion  for  women,  misses  and  children 
— a  new  color — a  new  fabric — a  new  accessorie 
— look  to  Straus  and  Louis  for  fashion-rightness. 


COA/PAAA^ 


"Thirty-one  Years  of  Faithful  Service" 
FIRST  IN  FASHION— FIRST  IN  VARIETY— FIRST  IN  VALUE 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 


Open  for  Business 


67 


-+ 


nnnnnnn 

nnn 

n 


C        "WATCH    US  GROW"        my 
RAMER  &  NORTON 

-The  Store  (or  All  Ihe  People" 
DANVILLE.   ILLINOIS 


"Famous  For  Silks 


99 


nnnnnnn 

nnn 

n 


Everything  New 


68 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


1826 


1926 


A  Hearty  Welcome  to 
Tou  and  Tour  Friends 

Centennial  visitors  will  find  a  warm  welcome  at  K.  &  S., 
new  friends  as  well  as  old.  Centrally  located  it  provides  an 
excellent  meeting  place  for  you  and  your  friends,  while  in 
the  store  many  modern  facilities  are  entirely  at  your  serv- 
ice. K.  &  S.  is  more  than  a  mere  department  store — it  is  a 
public  institution,  proud  of  Danville  as  its  home  and  of  the 
City's  100  years  of  forward  progress. 

K.<S?S.Dept.  Store  Co. 

DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 


•j^^fc^V^N^ 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

We  Are  Serving— 

Not  Merely  Selling! 

Serving  you  to-day  so  well  that  you  will  naturally 
come  back  tomorrow  is  the  aim  behind  every 
transaction.  Everyone  connected  with  this  or- 
ganization is  impressed  with  the  principle  that 
the  purchase  MUST  fulfill  the  customers  expecta- 
tions— in  quality  of  fabric — in  style  correctness — 
in  wear-giving  service. 

nn 

Improved  Facilities  for  Tour 
Convenience 

OUR  NEW  ELEVATOR  will  meet  your  approval. 
Larger — it  affords  greater  freedom  and  eliminates 
congestion.  The  double  safety  doors  and  other 
last-minute  safety  features  typify  our  efforts  to 
serve  you  better. 

THE  ALTERATION  DEPARTMENTS  insure  the 
completion  of  your  garment  when  you  expect  it. 
REST  ROOMS  and  telephone  service  are  at  your 
disposal  at  all  times. 

DELIVERIES  are  promptly  and  carefully  made. 

nn 

YOUR     SATISFACTION     IS     OUR     SUCCESS 


69 


."*A^V*{» 


DANVILLE'S  GREATEST  STORE 


70 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


"Your  Store 
Since  1887" 


^□^ 


DANVILLE'S  LARGEST  EXCLUSIVE 
READY-TO-WEAR  STORE  FOR 

Men,  Women 
&  Boys 


CENTENNIAL  HooK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


71 


Being  An  Economic  Factor 
In  the  Community  Served 

The  true  function  of  this  Store,  as  we  see 
it,  is  that  of  serving  as  a  purchasing  and  dis- 
tributing agent  for  the  people  of  the  commun- 
ity and  the  outlying  districts. 

When  the  merchant  enters  business  he  as- 
sumes the  responsibility  of  performing  a 
public  benefaction — that  of  providing  com- 
modities and  services  to  his  community  in  a 
way  that  will  afford  economy  and  convenience 
and  of  maintaining  such  environment  as  is 
necessary  and  desirable  to  the  consumers  who 
support  him. 

It  he  fails  in  this  responsibility,  he  ceases 
to  be  an  economic  factor  in  the  community 
which  he  essays  to  serve. 

Since  the  first  Store  in  this  Nation-wide 
institution  of  department  stores  was  opened 
in  1902,  the  outstanding  ambition  has  been  to 
serve  all  alike  and  well.  That  we  have  suc- 
ceeded is  proved  by  our  rapid  growth.  In 
less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  we  have  be- 
come the  World's  Largest  Chain  Department 
Store  Organization. 


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74 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY",  ILLINOIS 


Compliments  of 


£llay  system 

20  East  Main  St.         Danville,  111. 

Men  and  Women's  Ready-to- Wear 

MAJOR  CORD  TIRES 

1  year  guarantee  regardless  of  mileage. 

A.  HART,  Manager 


,~.> 


The  best  Friend  you  ever  had- 

A  good  friend  is  one  that  is  with  you  all  the  time  and 
where  will  you  rind  better  clothes  than  a  FRUHAUF 
SUIT  or  OVERCOAT? 

Let's  get  together  Fellows! 

Genuinely  hand  tailored  Fruhauf  Clothes,  S45  to  $60. 
Deutsch  Bros,  special  designed  2  Pant  Suits  at  $35. 
Knox-Dobbs  and  imported  Hats  from  $5  to  $10. 


"The  Shop  Distinctive " 

Wheaiy  Wardrobe  Trunks  Shirts  made  to  measure 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 

Always  in  the  Lead — 

Where  the  Styles  Come  from 

LADIES  APPAREL  AT  POPULAR  PRICES 

HEADQUARTERS  FOR  ROSAINE  HOSIERY 

At 

$1.35  and  81.69 

All  Colors,  All  Sizes — Guaranteed 

^yalCloakCq 


WOMEN S   GOOD  CLOTHES' 


Vermilion  St.,  DANVILLE.  Illinois 


HILLCREST 

Danville's  Most  Beautiful  Subdivision 


DALE  &  MASSIE 

EXCLUSIVE  AGENTS 
501-2-.3  BAUM  BLDG.  TELEPHONE  1195 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


The 
Store 
That 
Shows 
The  New 
Things 
First 


20  NORTH  VERMILION  ST. 
DANVILLE,  ILL. 


THREE  FLOORS— READY-TO-WEAR 
FOR  MADAME  AND  MADAMOISELLE 


First  Floor  Dresses  Salon — Second  Floor  Coats  and  Millinery  Salon 
Down  Stairs,  Inexpensive  Dept. 


Something  for  Nothing — Usually  Gets  Nothing 

— pay  the  price  of  quality 


RINGS  OF  RARE  EXCELLENCE 

Blue  White  and  Perfect! 

Visible  Value  in  finest  color  and  material  perfection. 
Priced  right,  by  weight,  by  quality,  and  comparison. 
We  urge  you  to  look! 

FRED  FRAME 


Watch  Inspector 


109  East  Main  St..  Danville,  Illinois 
&  E.  I.,  C.  C.  C.  &  St.  L.,  N.  Y.  C,  P.  &  E  ,  Waba: 


h.  I.  T.  S. 


(J*^- 


»■»  _ •»-•'%•_ 


-  »•  •"•".».  .»   " 


•  •  \».t».  '-."■.  »*.••..:•  •  .* 


CENTENNIAL  B<  ><  >K  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS  77 


Bahls-Storm  &  Shaffer 

Fine  Footwear 


For 


Men,  Women  and  Children 


110  N.  VERMILION  ST. 
Danville,  Illinois 


Ries  Strauss  Co. 

16-18  North  Vermilion  Street 

Here's  Our  Feature  Hat 

With  Silk  Bound  Edge 

It  has  style  and  quality  you  can  bank 

on — it's  correct  in  every  detail,  and 

has  the  appearance  of  hats  that  cost 

much  more. 

Silk  Lined 

nnn  Pricedat 

/       $500 

Ries  Strauss  Co.  ah  colors 


78  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY",  ILLINOIS 

Compliments  of 

Economy  Shoe  Co. 

FRED  SPIVEY,  Mgr. 
— and — 

Boord  Bros.  Clothing  Co. 

DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 


IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIillllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 

Thos.  Conron  Hardware  Co. 

"Sellers  of  Good  Goods" 

DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 

IllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllMIIIIIIIIIIIIII 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  79 


r 


THE   STORE   OF   BETTER    VALUES 


120  E.  Main 
DANVILLE,  ILL. 

Shoes,  Clothing  and  Furnishings 


Hacker's  Fair 


HEADQUARTERS  FOR  ALMOST  EVERYTHING 


207-209  E.  Main  St. 
DANVILLE.  ILL. 


80 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


CHAS.  T.  DUDENHOFER 


J.  ROSS  SMITH 


DUDENHOFER  a*SB  BOTTLING  CO. 

MANUFACTURERS  AND  DISTRIBUTORS  OF 

The  Best  In  Bottled  Beverages 

110-112  South  St.      Telephone  644  Danville,  111. 


Refresh  Yourself,  Drink 


Delicious  and  Refreshing 


Congratulations 

— and — 
MANY  HAPPY  RETURNS 

— of— 

THIS  AUSPICIOUS  OCCASION 

EXCLUSIVE  BUT  NOT  EXPENSIVE 
Outfitters  for  Men,  Women  and  Boys 


THE      BELL 

^Danville 


I   ENTENNIAL   Book'  OF  VERMILION   COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 


81 


GAMMEL  &  LEWMAN 

Grocers  and  Bakers 


Telephones  956  and  957 


124  N.  Vermilion  St. 


Danville,  Illinois 


*• 


.book  :lion  county,  ill: 


CIGARS 


BILLIARDS 


LESEURE  BROS. 

44  N.  Vermilion  St. — 24  E.  Main  St. 
DANVILLE.  ILLINOIS 


SODA 


LUNCH 


SEPTEMBER  2-.  a  AND  30.  1    - 

[>       rose  three  dates  hold  a  separate  slab  in  the  tablets  of  your 
-  form  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  GRAND   OLD 
VERMILION  COUNTY. 

,f  The  GREAT  VERMILION  COUNTS   CEN- 

TENNIAI* 

Danville,  as  the  hub  of  the  county  extends  a  general  invitation  to 
the  world  to  attend  this  GREAT  CENTENNIAL. 
This  ■  >ne  of  the  spokes  of  the  Hub,  extends  to  the  world 

a  special  invitation. 

We  want  you  to  know  us  intimately.     We  want  the  Strang-. 
our  midst  to  consider  this  store  a  home  for  them  alv 
Owing  to  our  very  central  location  we  shall  maintain  an  LNFOR- 
:ON  BU7  -     "e  centennial  at  front  of  our  new 

shoe  ._  Bon  St 

E  DREAD  you  and  your  friends  may  obtain  information 
r  your  en;   yment   of  our  County 
and  our  C  I 

FRANK   P.   MEYER 

Exclusive  Shoes 
22  N.  Vermilion  - 

DANVILLE.   ILLINOIS 


*•  •  *»  ^  .  _  •»  •  •' 


.*.».»* 


»».».».. 


7EXXIAL  BO 


%urM)ME 

ShouldCome 

>  FIRST 


For  half  a  century  we  have  been  supplying 
good  furniture  to  Vermilion  County  residents. 
We  help  you  turn  houses  into  homes.  We  have 

>fied  your  grandparents — let     -  -   rve  you. 


SANDUSKY 


Furniture  Stoi 


e 


FURNITURE  OF  QUALITY 

S7-39  N.  Vermilion  St.  Danville.  111. 


g4  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


Complete  Home  Furnishers 


-COURTESY- 


PENRY 

Furniture  Co. 


433-35-37  E.  Main  St. 
DANVILLE,  ILL. 


ill 


See  Us  for  Home  Outfits 


CENTENNIAL  Book'  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

Your  Home 
Should  Come  First 


EVERY  man's  home  is  his  castle — a  place 
where  he  enjoys  life  to  its  fullest! 
In  spite  of  the  hurry  and  hustle  of 
modern  living — in  spite  of  the  things  which 
often  keeps  one  away  from  home — there  is 
an  ever  growing  consciousness  that  few 
things  in  life  are  worth  more  than  a  good 
home. 

Let  us  add  the  beauty  and  comfort  of  good 
furniture  to  your  home. 


^  t  ^  t  ^.^ 


Olson  &  Martens 

Opposite  Postoffii ' 

DANVILLK,   ILLINOIS 


86  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

Rhodes  Burford  Co, 

House  Furnishings 


sUss^S 


103-105-107  E.  Main 


Danville,  Illinois 


Bredehoft  &  Ball 

WHOLESALE  FRUITS  AND  VEGETABLES 

□nnn 

Danville,  Illinois 


(Etmtjilimcnta  of 

lakum  JniUtstnj 

— D- 

INTER-STATE  BAKING  CO. 
HERENDEEN  BAKINCx  CO. 
WM.  WINTHER  &  SONS 
MUELLER-SPITZ  BAKING  CO. 
ATHENS  BAKERY 
ALBERT  LEINS  BAKERY 
LINNE  BAKING  CO. 


88 


CENTENNIAL[BOOK  OF  VERMILION'  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 


WEBSTER  GROCER  CO, 

WHOLESALE  GROCERS 

North  St.  &  Washington  Ave. 
DANVILLE,  ILL. 


nn 

Distributors  of 

Larabee's  "Best,  Piilsbury's  Best  and 

Golden  Seal  Flour 

nn 


MARVEL  BRAND  FOOD  PRODUCTS 

THOMSON  &  TAYLOR  COFFEE 
WHITE  HOUSE  COFFEE  AND  TEA 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  89 


One  Hundred  Years  have  proven  there  is — 

NUN  BETTER 

city  than — 

DANVILLE 

We  are  proud  of  its  progress. 
We  are  also  proud  of  our 

NUN  BETTER  FOODS 

for  there  is — 

NUN  BETTER. 

Wholesome   Foods   build   healthy   people,   and 
thereby  a  progressive,  healthy  city. 

Use  NUN  BETTER  as  a  guarantee  of  Health. 
Prosperity  and  Happiness. 

□  □□ 

Danville  Wholesale  Grocery  Co. 


■i».*v. 


90  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY.   ILLINOIS 

"ALL  THE  COMFORTS  OF  HOME" 

Can  be  Enjoyed  at  the 

Hotel  Lincoln 

NOTED  FOR  ITS  HOME-LIKE  ATMOSPHERE, 
QUIET,  COMFORT  AND  REFINEMENT. 


nnnn 
nn 


Dining  Room  and 
Coffee  Shop 

Unexcelled  Cuisine  and  Service 
Moderate  Charges 


nnnn 
nn 


JOHN  J.  GRIER  CO.,  J.  P.  MURPHY. 

Owners  and  Operators  Manager 


NATIONALLY  KNOWN  GRIER  SERVICE 


,~* 


••-•-•r-fcv.\-w4*:r^>v*\vr27^^^ 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  <M 


Yeomans  &  Shedd 

HARDWARE  CO. 


For  59  years  this  Company  has  contributed  to  the  prosperity 

of  this  community  and  enjoyed  a  consistent  growth  with  it. 


iv  t,\t 


The  building  now  occupied  is  on  the  site  purchased  by  Victor 
LeSeure  in  1851,  and  is  still  owned  by  his  heirs.  Few  business 
houses  in  the  city  have  had  as  long  and  intimate  connection  with 
the  life  of  this  City  and  surrounding  country. 


Plaza  Hotel 


Danville's  Largest  and  Best 


Plaza  Garage 


">2  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

"Success  Starts  in  the  Kitchen" 

THE 

Buckler  -  Moore 


Cafeteria 

46  N.  VERMILION  ST. 

nn 


100  years  ago  the  business  of  feeding  the  man 
away  from  home  had  hardly  passed  "ye  olde 
Tavern"  stage,  where  the  guest  would  spend 
several  hours  eating,  drinking  and  swapping 
stories  with  the  inn-keeper  and  other  guests. 
Time  was  not  important. 

The  fast-moving  age  in  which  we  find  ourselves 
to-day,  however,  demands  that  we  fill  each  min- 
ute with  sixty  busy  seconds.  Eating  places,  to 
meet  the  new  demands  have  taken  the  form  of 
the  modern  cafeteria  where  the  SERVICE  IS 
QUICK  and  EFFICIENT,  where  GOOD  FOOD, 
WELL  COOKED  is  TEMPTINGLY  AR- 
RANGED BEFORE  THE  EYES,  and  where 
PRICES  ARE  REASONABLE.  Such  a  place  is 


THE  BUCKLER-MOORE 
CAFETERIA 

46  N.  Vermilion  St. 

WHEN    IN    MATTOON,    ILL..    EAT   AT    THE    BUCKLER-MOORE. 


;».-'»^.v.>v«»;v^vi-4»^v..*'*«^,:.-*»'r.».i^*r»»w,:'v**; 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

An  Efficient 

Laundry  Service 

Since  J  882 

nn 

FORTY-FOUR  years  ago,  a   little   room   on   West 
Main  Street  and  5  employees.    To-day,  a  mam- 
moth laundry  and  dry  cleaning  plant  with  120 
employees ! 

Such  has  been  the  growth  of  the  business  es- 
tablished by  John  A.  Phillips  back  in  1882.  A  steady 
growth,  based  upon  service  has  made  possible  this 
business,  which  has  passed  from  father  to  sons,  and 
which  each  year  is  expending  and  increasing  its  num- 
ber of  employees. 

No  finer  laundry  in  the  state  can  be  found  than 
our  splendid  new  plant  at  21  South  Vermilion  Street. 

OUR  DRY  CLEANING  SERVICE 

is  growing  along  with  our  laundry,  because  we  have 
exacting  standards  of  service  that  please  even  the 
most  particular  persons.  You  are  invited  at  any  time 
to  visit  our  plants. 

nn 

PHILLIPS 

Laundry  and  Dry  Cleaning  Co. 

21-23-25  S.  Vermilion  Telephone  211-242-243 


94 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

Kept  Danville  Clean 
For  Years— 

Eight  years  ago  the  Model  Laundry  and  the  Star  Laundry  "joined 
hands"  after  some  18  or  20  years  as  separate  units,  battling  to  keep  Dan- 
ville and  the  County  clean — Today,  its  the  same  story  told  with  modern 
equipment,  a  story  of  clean  conscientious  service. 

Telephones  175—676 

J.  W.  SMALLEY,  Pres.  &  Mgr.  J.  A.  O'BRIEN,  Vice  Pres.  &  Treas. 

LOUIS  J.  O'BRIEN,  Sec'y 


Telephones  177  and  141 


L.  F.  Miller  &  Son 

ESTABLISHED  1893 
Wholesale  Fruits  and  Produce 


WHOLESALE  DISTRIBUTORS 

Nucoa  Nut  Margarine 

Pet  Brand  Oranges  and  Lemons,  Capidome,  Grape  Fruit 

Coning  Bros.  Apples 

115  N.  Washington  Ave.  DANVILLE,  ILL. 


■  •-•-  .. _ _  ■••••«»^viv«rv.v.vw»'f»Vfc."*.*» •  •*.* ■  •-"» •:•-.* •'.'•"•'**.'•. 


CENTENNIAL  H<  »  IK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


95 


i;ii;iiii|:!ii:i,;iiiiiiiiiiiiiii!;iiiii;iiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinii. 
mniuiHiiuiBDiniirauHHnnaiiiiii!ii<ii!!iiiiiih 


THERE  NEVER  HAS 
BEEN  ANY  MILK 
SOLD  IN  VERMILION 
COUNTY  IN  THE  PAST 
100  YEARS  THAT 
COMPARE  WITH 
BREDEHOFT  CREAM 
TOP.  AND  IT  COST  NO 
MORE  THAN  ORDI- 
NARY MILK. 


Illlllllllllllllll|||llllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllli:illll!lllll;lll|[||||||l|||!ll|||||!|||l|l||| 
1IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 


Bredehoft 
Dairy  Co. 

TELEPHONE  2 
619-621  Vermilion  St. 


H/^  HA? '^  i^5  »AP  l*p 

sN  i:  is-  n  is  ■-.  Sn  1-,  is  n  is  t 


BLUE 


BANNER  DAIRY 


EHSOK 


The  Home  of 

SAFE  MILK 

408  W.  FAIRCHILD  ST.  TELEPHONE  1870 


o,  sB  Has?  V  s»  "V  s?  t<:s?  Has? 
Ssyf!  ii\k  *s-  t  is.'  i  ii  t  3€  H 


•»':..- ••*-^^v-'»-»'*»^^j-^^^v^^*^:^^^*^^r^t.#,;*/^^»:^;»*:4%: 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  ''7 


/Trent 

> • BROS      ^ 


LUMBER  CO. 

The  Hub  of  the  Lumber  Business 


nn 

nnnn 

nn 


A  PIONEER  INDUSTRY  OF  DANVILLE 

FOUNDED  ON  QUALITY, 

THE  GOLDEN  THREAD  OF  SATISFACTION. 


nn 

nnnn 

nn 


THE  HOME  OF  GOOD  Ll'MP.ER  &  MILL  WORK  OF  QUALITY 


98  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  YERMILlo.X  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 


THE  FIRST  TELEPHONE 


IN  VERMILION  COUNTY  WAS  PLACED  IN  THE 


H00T0N  LUMBER  YARD 


Knu 


The  telephone  has  been  improved,  but  we  continue 
to  furnish  the  same  excellent  quality  of  building 
material  which  has  gone  into  countless  homes  since 
this  yard  was  established  in  1872. 

C.  B.  HOOTON 


THE  MAIN  ONE 


MAIN   ONE 


■  »#•••»%  .:•-•♦  •  •m.i.iZfS*?*  vv-r»x*^:* 


CENTENNIAL   H<  »  >K  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 


99 


Compliments 

of 

F. 

L. 

HILL  LUMBER 

LUMBER 
«16  N.  Walnut  Street 

CO. 

Telephones: 

7  and  8                    DANVILLE, 

ILL. 

100  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


DANVILLE  LUMBER  CO. 

By  "SPLINTERS" 
434-44  Gilbert  All  Telphones  800 


YEAGER  &  SONS 

BUILDERS 


...  ••-•-•<••-.>- /-.'vw-v-v.v-'^'wv."-  **■•■•*:» . •-*♦  •  •'.•  t #/* •:*"iv»v-r»V4*:» 


CENTENNIAL  U<  »  IK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  II.I.IX  (IS 


Kil 


Largest  in  Eastern  Illinois 

A  MODERN  ELECTRIC  PLANING  MILL  AND 
STEAM  DRY  KILN 

ELLIOTT 
LUMBER    CO 

All  Kinds  of  Building  Materials 
WEST  END  SUBWAY— DANVILLE 


102 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 

E.  C.  LAMM  &  CO. 

PLANING  MILL 

IVholesale  and  Retail  Lumber 

SINCE   1857 

Greetings 

from 


-* 


THE  PIONEERS  OF  THE  INDUSTRY 

nn 
E.  C.  LAMN  &  CO. 

201  South  Vermilion  Street,  DANVILLE,  ILL. 
QUALITY  LUMBER  &  MILLWORK 


fVebber  and  Turn  ell 

Jewelers  and  Opticians 

117  North  Vermilion  Street 
DANVILLE,  ILL. 


..-••r»v--.'r.v//j'#vo;"J7*v4»;v./'**\h../#*»\»r 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  [LLINOIS  103 


Marlatt 

Battery  Manufacturing 

Company 


H'^P  "V-\p  <v\p  •V-NP  V^P 
VnP,  <VNP,  <^:\P 


Automobile,  Radio,  Farm  Lighting  and    Vehicle   Batteries 

Automotive  and  Commercial  Rewinding 

Motors     Generator     Armatures 


1112  Industrial  Avenue 


Through  Service  We  Grow" 


1IIIIIIIII[|||||||||||||||||I!IIIII1IIIIIIIIII!IIIIIIII!IIIIIIII^ 

IJ!lllll!l«l«l«lllll!!lllllll»lllll«llllll!lllhlllllllll!ll[llllll»ll!IIUU 


Hegeler  Zinc  Company 

DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 


Manufacturers  of 

Rolled  Zinc-Strips  and  Coils 


Boiler  Plates  Slab  Zinc 

Sulphuric  Acid 


|i||||||||||||||||||||llllllllUIIIIIIII!ll!ll!IIINIIIIIU!llllllllllllllllinilllllllll!lllllll!lllll!IIHIIIII!llll!lll!lllllllllllllinillll^ 
[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIH 


-/••v.v-«»v4»-— >vovvTyr*»'v.  ***■•*.%  ..*.*•  **':%:t>z^r\v»:*;.;#v*\,« 


CENTENNIAL  U<  »  IK  OF  VERMILION   COUNTY,   ILIKolS 


105 


USE 


Allith-Prouty 

GARAGE  DOOR  HARDWARE 

And  Your  Doors  Will  Operate  Freely  and 
Close Weather  Tieht 


WE  CAN  HANG  ON  ANY  KIND  OF  DOORS 
AND  ALWAYS  GUARANTEE 

Satisfaction  in  Hardware 


106 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


OFFICE,  SHOW  ROOM  and  WAREHOUSE  located  at  619-705  N.  Jackson  St. 


&H£$S3£ 


Our  progress  has  been  steady  for  fifteen  years.  The  Inland  Supply  Company 
was  organized  in  June,  1911,  with  quarters  on  E.  Harrison  St.  In  1913,  moved 
to  E.  Van  Buren  St.,  which  location  served  us  till  1924,  when  we  built  the  above 
plant. 

In  1921  our  main  offices  were  moved  to  Chicago  where  we  have  also  made  a 
steady  growth.  In  May,  1926,  we  opened  a  branch  warehouse  at  Champaign, 
which  is  operated  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Danville  office. 

OUR  BUSINESS  IS  WHOLESALE  ONLY  OF  PLUMB- 
ING AND  HEATING  SUPPLIES.  SELLING  TO  THE 
ESTABLISHED  PLUMBING  TRADE  IN  ILLINOIS,  IN- 
DIANA. IOWA  AND  WISCONSIN. 


st!H!  still 


INLAND  SUPPLY  COMPANY 


DANVILLE 


CHICAGO 


CHAMPAIGN 


/#r*v"-vv4»    •'.V»T*VJ.*J7'V*^ 


-rrw 


v«:#.".»*:»\%n.«; 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   [LLINOIS  107 

*4 


■  n ■  'iM  i:":  i;ii ' ■ .:"! .!■!■  .MM ; I!  i! : - i.r  ':  ':|  'i;  Ml  i.M  ;.i  >■  ^i : i:  mi  in    i . :■  ■::  i- mm  .mi  ■■!!  mi  !M!  M'i .it ::l'  i: ■  i;  ,,;  i:. 

!IIIIII!IIIIII!IIIIIIIII!IIU!I!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!I!H  I  lllllllllllllllllllllll  Milllllllllll' 


Danville  Posting  Service 

and 
Haskell  Sign  System 

mum 


PROMINENT  AND  WELL  KNOWN  DANVILLE 
FIRM  WITH  BUSINESS  OFFICES  AT  17  WEST 
HARRISON  STREET  MAINTAINS  A  POLICY 
IN  THEIR  OUTDOOR  ADVERTISING  WHICH 
ADDS  TO  THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  COMMUN- 
ITY AND  TO  THE  ARTISTIC  APPEARANCE 
OF  OUR  SURROUNDINGS— A  PROGRESSIVE 
FIRM  WHICH  HOLDS  THE  COOPERATION 
AND  GOOD  WILL  OF  THE  PUBLIC  AND  AIDS 
IN  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  DANVILLE  AND 
VICINITY  THROUGH  THE  ESSENTIAL  SERV- 
ICE THEY  RENDER. 


:M  u::-  in;'  -hi! :l  mm  .  'I   i    .      ■   .  i   I      ■  :i-  m  :-|  l  i  immim  fM:mI ="  I  in.  iiiMn  i  ;n  1 1  ■.  i  i  i  r ;!i...n:  mm in  n-  :!i-  i; 

lllllllllillllllllllllllilllllllllllllll!llllllllllllllll!lllllllllll!IIIIIN|!|U 


HI- 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


We  Welcome 
You— 


Lunches 


F.  M.  MISCH 


124  E.  Main  St. 


DANVILLE.  ILL. 


Sodas 


WM.  C.  SCHULTZ.  JR. 


Branch  Office  and   Factory  Twin  City   Roofing  Company  Champaign,   111. 


HENRY  BIRELINE  COMPANY,  [Inc.] 

Roofing  and  Sheet  Metal  Contractors 

615  N.  HAZEL  ST.— BIG  "4"  R.  R. 

DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 

CORNICES — Galvanized  Iron  or  Copper 

Metallic  Skylights  Ventilators 

ROOFING— 

Slate,  Tin,  Tile,  Copper,  Felt,  Gravel  and  Ready  Roofing 

Metal  Ceilings  and  Side  Walls 
Warm  Air  Furnaces,  Cast  or  Steel 

Growers  of  Florida  Fancy  Paper  Shell  Pecans 

ORDERS  TAKEN  WHOLESALE  AND  RETAIL 


.. . -  ••  •  *v^v- r**-4i*\r^ .'••'*v^.\^*v*v^.v7*~*-»\v.:#."» * :•'.%_# •;•  •*'*%.» ^'•'•'*X.V 


H.  T.  LEVERENZ  C.  C.  LEVERENZ 


DANVILLE,  ILL. 


nn 

nnn 

nn 


Best  Grades  Eastern  Kentucky,  Indiana  White  Ash 
and  Illinois  Coal 


The 

Bee  Line  Mf  g.  Co 

Factories — Veedersburs,  Ind.,  Danville.  111. 


MANUFACTURERS  OF 


Pants,  Overalls  &  Coats 


SOLD  EVERYWHERE 


110 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


What  you  must  buy 
on  faith 

Beauty  of  silver,  gold  and  platium,  of 
precious  gems,  you  can  judge  for  your- 
self. But  of  their  quality  your  only  as- 
surance is  faith  in  those  from  whom 
you  buy.  Years  of  honest  dealing  have 
earned  us  a  reputation  for  trustworthi- 
ness, winning  us  many  patrons  and, 
among  other  things,  the  distinction  of 
being  one  of  the  few  jewelers  privileged 
to  sell  Gruen  Watches. 


;\i^r 


McKee  and  Overstreet 

JEWELERS  AND  OPTICIANS 

Formerly  Fisher  &  McKee 

19  N.  Vermilion  St. 

THE  HALLMARK  STORE 


MEMBER     GRUEN      WATCH     GUILD 


%  v./*  •  :*\v.v.''«~*»^v^^**  v^7^«r^^^ 


Charles  F.  Ehlers,  Pres.  &  Mgr.  Charles  M.  Woodbury,  Vice  Pres. 

Flora  M.  Woodbury,  Sec'y  &  Treas. 

WOODBURY  DRUG  CO. 

Established  1846,  Incorporated  1903 


nm 


80  Years  in  the  Same  Business,  66  Years  in  One  Room 

The  Same  Ground,  the  Same  Room,  the  Same  Firm 

DANVILLE,  ILL. 


1846|  |J926 

80  YEARS  OLD 

In   the   Fall   of  1846— the  Woodbury   Book   Co.   started   in   business   in 
Vermilion  County,  which  is  now  celebrating  its  100th  anniversary. 


-* 


We  want  to  take  this  opportunity  to  THANK  THE  PEOPI.K  OF  THE 
COMMUNITY  for  its  generous  patronage  during  all  these  years,  which 
has  made  it  possible  for  us  to  have  one  of  the  finest  and  best  Book  and 
Stationery  Stores  in  Illinois. 

We  trust  that  we  will  warrant  a  continuance  of  your  support, 

WOODBURY  BOOK  CO. 

125  North  Vermilion  Street 

T846|  |"l927T 


112  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 

OTTO  R.  SCHULTZ 
HARDWARE  CO. 

HARDWARE,  PAINTS,  CHINAWARE,  TOYS 
155  Vermilion  St.  Danville,  Illinois 

nnnn 
□□ 

T.  C.  ALEXANDER 

(Cleve) 
SPORTING  GOODS  AND  SUPPLIES 

155  N.  Vermilion  St.  Danville,  111. 

OPPOSITE   FISCHER  THEATRE 


GULICK  DRUG  CO. 

T.  A.   GULICK,   R.   PH.,   PRES.  C.  M.  KARNS,    SECY. 

105  N.  Vermilion  St.  DANVILLE,  ILL.  Telephone  129 

//  Its  Advertised  1l"c  Stock  It. 

Why  not  try  us  first.  A  complete  Stock  of  Drugs,  Foun- 
tain Pens,  Hot  Water  Bottles,  Stationery,  Drug  Sundries 
and  Burdsal  Paint. 

GULICK  DRUG  CO. 

nnnn 
nn 

Our  Chocolate  Sundaes  Are  the  Talk  of  the  Town 

Whitmans  Candies,  Choice  Perfumes,  Shaeffers  Pens,  Kodaks  and  Films 

Developing   and   Printing 

MORTON'S  ONE-HOUR  DRYING  AUTO  ENAMEL 

DANVILLE  DRUG  CO. 

THE  SAN  TOX  STORE 
15  E.  Main  St.  Telephone  97 


^  •••%*:. v-:'#'*~«»t'^^#w^ 


CENTENNIAL   Hi 'OK   OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS  113 


*- 


PLASTER  DRUG  CO. 

DANVILLE'S  BEST  DRUG  STORE 

Save  time — Try  us  first. 

Our  Stock  Is  Complete  in  Every  Detail. 
□ 

108  VERMILION  STREET     I 

DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS. 


Davey's  Men's  Wear 


Home  of 


Adler  Collegian  Clothes 

n 

Here's  hoping  that  we  are  all  here  one  hundred  years  from  now. 
17  N.  VERMILION  ST.  DANVILLE,  ILL. 


114 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION"  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


BL_— ^1 


"Everything  In  Music" 

Has  Been  Benjamin's  Slogan  for  Over  a  Half  Century 

Benjamin's  Temple  of  Music 

ESTABLISHED  1876 


-4 


Headquarters  For  All 


Centennial  Visitors 


Smoot  Drug  Co. 

DANVILLE,  ILL. 

VERMILION  &  HARRISON  STS.  TELEPHONE  93 


^^•w:v-^wr7JT»v*\^iViV  ;,.v',»'«\»  !...•» « •■.iif7':,^,.*:.v:.w*\; 


CENTENNIAL  B<  ><  >K  <  >F  VERMILION  COUNTY.   ILLINOIS  US 


for  55  Years 

Our  Location  Has  Been  a 

HARDWARE  STORE 


DOWLING  HARDWARE  CO 

35  Vermilion  St. 


Meet  Your  Friends 

at 

Feldkamp   Candy   Co. 

36  N.  Vermilion 

nnn 
Excellent  Noon  Lunches 


116  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


INTER- STATE 
WATER  CO. 

DANVILLE,    ILLINOIS 


. 


CENTENNIAL  R()()K  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY.   ILLINOIS  117 


118 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


Memorial  Arts  Co. 

409-411  E.  MAIN  Telephone  96 

DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 


Mausoleums,  Monuments  and  Markers 


"MARK  EVERY  GRAVE" 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  119 


nn< 


Compliments  of 

F.  W.  WOOLWORTH  CO. 

5  and  10c  STORE 
8-10  N.  Vermilion  St. 


K 


□< 


Compliments  of 

S.  S.  KRESGE  CO 

25c  to  $1  Store,  12-14  N.  Vermilion  St. 
5  and  10c  Store.  26  N.  Vermilion  St. 


-* 


-* 


120  CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,   ILLINOIS 


Pi&ly.Wi^ly 

Hint  Hi 

51  N.  Vermilion  807  N.  Vermilion 

Madison  Square  203  Oakwood  Ave. 

205  East  Main  110  Park  Street 

Saves  Thrifty  Housewives  Many  Dollars 


Danville  Artificial  Ice  Co. 

GEO.  M.  WRIGHT 

Established  1895 

nnn 

Manufacturers  and  Distributors  of  Ice 
TELEPHONE  401  Office:  733  E.  Cleveland  St. 


+..-  -'•-.•  •  •-•  •*-...  .--'••*Vw.-'*»**v...'»  •■•*:»--•»*■*•.» .  •/*  *■*■.*  .w.w? 


CENTENNIAL  H<  ><  >K  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


121 
^4. 


[in 


Black  Servant 
Coal  Company 


General  Offices 

310  Adams  Building 

DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 

Mines  Located  at  Elkville,  Illinois 

W.  G.  HARTSHORN,  JR.,  Pres. 

Telephone  2352  and  2353 


1111111111111111111111111111111 
liililiiilliniiiiiiiii 


122 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OP  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


The 

Commercial-News 

Danville,  Illinois 
ESTABLISHED  1866 

J.  H.  HARRISON,  Editor  W.  J.  PARRETT.  Manae-pr 


>  *. 


.... :•'•••-%■ 


;_;»#-•-*» 


'-  »#•'•»  v-  ■     •#*■••  -. .  ^  »#  *■*»  ■  '  '  T  v/i\^ ' 


CENTENNIAL   lini.K   i  >|-    VI- KM  I  l.K  ).\   CofNTV,    ILLINOIS  123 


DANVILLE  AUBURN  AUTO  CO. 

CADILLAC— AUBURN— OAKLAND— PONTIAC 

141-143  North  Walnut  St.  Telephone  Main  588-589 

OLDEST  AUTO  DEALER  IN  THIS  SECTION 

OF  COUNTY 


M.\t.\t 


Compliments  of 

BARKMAN  CHEVROLET  SALES  CO. 

107  W.  NORTH  ST. 

The  Greatest  Buick  Ever  Built 

Quiet  at  Every  Point  on  Speedometer 
Shown  in  16  Models 

DAUBS-VISKNISKKI  MOTOR  CO. 

BUICK  SALES  AND  SERVICE 

222-24  W.  Main  Street 
DANVILLE,  ILL. 


LINCOLN  FORD 

FORDSON 

BARKER  MOTOR  CAR  CO. 

Authorized  Ford  Dealers 
Open  Evenings  225  W.  Main  St. 


124 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


David  Bros,  and 
Potter 

Grain  Merchants 

JOHN  CHRISMAN,  Manager 


The 
Peoples  State  Bank 


COLLISON,  ILLINOIS 


Davis  &  Davis 

Department  Store 
Farm  Machinery 


The 
Collison  Garage 

Tires,  Accessories,  Gas  and  Oil 

GENE  M.  CAMPBELL,  Mgr. 


R.  0.  Vinson 


Farmer  and  Banker 


T.  H.  French 

Highway   Commissioner  and 
Farmer 


Chas.  G.  Juvinall 
&  Son 

Live  Stock  Feeders  and 
Shippers 


C.  W.  Laflen 


Farmer  and  Feeder 


*-.»  .  . '•  •'*»;^v-.1'*-«**,».v  *-.'*"»'4».^"-"- »*'*'«».k-  ■•#■*■*"  v  ~m  »#  *■*■     '  i v.%\\*7 


CENTENNIAL  H<  x  iK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  125 


THE  E.  B.  COLLINS  COMPANY 

Wholesale 
Al'TO  AND  RADIO  SUPPLIES 

214-216   W     \l\l\  TELEPHONE    MAIN    6  DANVILLE,    ILL 


AUTO  BATTERY  &  ELECTRIC  CO. 

D.  R.  SWAIM 

AUTOMOTIVE  IGNITION 

TELEPHONE  994  HAZEL   AND   HARRISON   STS.  DANVILLE,    ILL. 


DODGE  BROTHERS 

Motor  Cars  and  Trucks 

Sales  Service 

BYRON   BILDERBACK 

118    N     VERMILION  DANVILLE,    ILL 


AMACK  MOTOR  COMPANY 

STUDEBAKER  AUTOMOBILES 

■    m 

104-106   N.    HAZEL  fELEPHONE   929  DANVILLE,    II. I. 


126 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


Danville  Motor  Car  Co. 

317  North  Vermilion  Street 
Danville,  Illinois 

HUDSON.  ESSEX,  MARMON 

H.  L.  Snyder,  Manager 

Humrichouse  Tire  Shop 

AUTO  TIRES,  TUBES  AND  SUPPLIES 

Corner  North  and  Hazel  Sts. 

Danville,  Illinois 

Howard-Martin  Tire  Co.,  Inc. 

114-118  N.  Hazel  St. 

We  carry  complete  line  Replacement  Parts 
for  all  Model  Cars 

New  Low  Prices 

WILLYS   OVERLAND 

Fine  Motor  Cars 

TAYLOR  MOTOR  CO. 

252  West  Main  St. 


»>,t*  •;*\.Y..**  *-*\v^7**s**^vj .'*V4»  ■■■./*  *-*\»  .:./***■.» .  -  •#  *-*\k  .v_v.%\v7. 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS  127 


FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK 

CATLIN,  ILLINOIS 

OFFICERS:  DIRECTORS: 

R.  PUZEY,  President  R.  PUZEY 

\V.  S.  KEENEY,  Vice-President  W.   S.   KEENEY 

H.  E.   DOUGLAS,  Cashier  H.  E.  DOUGLAS 

(.'.  X.  MICHAEL,  Asst.  Cashier  CHAS.  V.  TILTON 

MAE  CHURCH,  Asst.  Cashier  I.    G.    GUYMON 


A.  JONES'  SONS 

"CATLIN'S  PIONEER  STORE" 
75  Years  of  Service 


TELEPHONE  35  CATLIN,   ILLINOIS 


Compliments  of 

BROWN  BROS. 

HARDWARE,  LUMBER,  IMPLEMENTS  AND  AUTOMOBILES 

BISMARCK,  ILL. 


B.  B.  TAYLOR,  President  WILLIAM  DOLAN,  Secretary 

TAYLOR-ENGLISH  COAL  CO. 

MAIN  OFFICE.  CATLIN,  ILL. 

Mines  on  Wabash  R.  R.  Daily  Capacity,  2,000  Tons 

The  Coal  That  Gives  Service 


128 


CENTENNIAL  BOOK  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


Vote  for 
CLAUDE  P.  MADDEN 

For  Sheriff  of  Vermilion  County 

ELECTION  NOVEMBER  2ND,  1926 

You  All  Know  Me 


■l*l>,^:vj^v4t':vj^^^J^v^'v^f*V>^,*^.M^AV^^^y^^ 


1826  Lest  We  Forget  1926 


HISTORICAL  AND  SYMBOLICAL  PAGEANT 

In  Celebration  of  the 

CENTENNIAL  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS 


ILLINOIS-INDIANA  FAIRGROUNDS,  DANVILLE,  ILLINOIS 
SEPTEMBER  28,  29,  30,  1926 


(By  Earl  Darfler) 


Cast  of  Characters 

PRINCIPALS 

FATHER  TIME HARMON   EASTON 

MISS  COLUMBIA MRS.  EARL  TAYLOR 

MISS  VERMILION  COUNTY,  QUEEN  OF  THE  CENTENNIAL  AND  HER 

MAIDS  OF  HONOR. 
ARRIVAL  OF  THE  QUEEN  AND  HER  MAIDS  OF  HONOR: 

.MISS  C.  &  E.  I...    ___Elma  Blankenburg     MISS  BLOUNT .Mildred  Wyman 

MISS  PILOT Bess  Fiench 

MISS  CATLIN Iris  Kinder 


MISS  ROTARY Mabel  Graves 

MISS   KIWANIS Amelia  Rainier 

MISS  A.  B.  C Jeanette  Schuman 

.MISS  B.  &  P.  W LeonaDrews 

MISS  D.   H.   S Harriet  Chapman 

.MISS  GRANT Mrs.  Ralph  Elliott 

MISS  BUTLER    Margaret  Liggett 

MISS  MIDDLEFORK  Laura  Luckey 

MISS  ROSS Creta  Strickler 

MISS  NEWELL    Grace  Young 


MISS  OAKWOOD   ___Uavon  Thompson 

MISS  VANCE    Thelma  Brandon 

MISS  JAMAICA   Juanita  Linville 

MISS   SIDELl,    .Louise  Burroughs 

MISS  CARROLL Jean  Coggshall 

MISS  GEORGETOWN  Catherine  Rucker 

MISS  ELWOOD -Uidrey  Castle 

MISS  McKENDREE   .Mrs.  Pleas  Maworth 
MISS  LOVE   FernAttebury 


(Arrival   of  Miss  Columbia  and  the   Forty-Eight   States: 

MISS  COLUMBIA MRS.  EARL  TAYLOR 

HER  COURT  OF  FORTY-EIGHT  STATES- 


Lois    Wick  Marie  Lane 

Maiie  Jewell         Emma   Hitchens 
Helen   Freimeyer  Hazel  Pavey 


Rose  Switzer 
Rose  Shepherd 
Ethel    KiiiK 
Winifred   Jones 
Helen   Carter 
Oma   Suitt 
Etna  Smith 
Helen  Smith 
Gladys  Coit 


Edith   Pavey 
Ethel   Stansberry 
Julia   Campbell 
Reva   Clair   Hoff 
Lucy    Hickman 
Nellie  Spencer 
Nora   Olmsted 
Dorothea  Packard 
Gladys  Brooks 


Olive  Adams 
Ora  Phillips 
Edna   Walters 
Marian  Dull 
Nelle  Burt 
Anna  Smith 
Fanny    Stockdale 
Ida  Southworth 
Sophia    Dillon 
Exxa   Bennett 
Miriam   Moore 
Clara  Schultz 


From  the  Business  and  Professional   Women's  Club. 


Kate  Schultz 
Madge  Cadwallader 
Mabel  Redden 
Mae    Converse 
Welmina  Moran 
Anna  Schull 
Verna  Burnette 
Marie    Burnette 
Jennie    Schull 
Cecile  A.  Alles 
Margaret  White 
Mrs.   Morris  Thompson 

Danville.    Illinois. 


Zella   Hackman 
Gwendolyn   O'Neal 
Ruth  Osborne 
Virginia    Miller 


"THE  DAWNING  OF  CREATION" 

MIST  MAIDENS 
Wintress  Dalby  Kathlyn   Frazier  Mae  McEwan 

Dorothy    Hall  Ava  Ashby  Helen   Hannah 

Eleanor    Hulgren  Constance  Patton  Vera    Nickolson 


Betty   Anne  Stewart 
Marion  Fearherley 
Ruth  Marie  Chaney 
Beverly   Yarborough 
Dorothy  Laker 
Beverly  Morgan 
Jane  Morrison 
Barbara  Current 


FLOWERS 

Betty  Lou  Miller 

Betty  Louise  Baum 

Arlena    Swisher 

Miriam   Johnson 

Nancy  Knight  Lewis 

Sara   Ruth   Sonner 

Madeline  Stewart 

Barbara  Morgan      Small  jlirls  from   Roselawn   District. 


Muriel  Chanev 
Burl    Wallace 

Mary    Redden 
Mary    Myrtle   Jones 
Catherine  Jane  Jackson 


TABLEAU 
"THE  COMING    OF  THE   INDIANS" 

CAST   OF   CHARACTERS 
CHIEF  KEANNEKEUK A.   S.  White 

GUIDES Paul  Billingsley,  A.  F.  Tidrow 

HALF  BREEDS George  L.  Queck,  John  C.  Miller,  Jess  Jenkins 

GUARDS Harry  Burks,  B.  L.   Stewart 

BRAVES Byron  Mowery,  Frank  Gray,  Sr.,  William  Toler 

war  dancers- 
Ross  Bentley  Elvin  Schaffer  Robert  Miller 
Frank  Gray",  Jr.                     Harold  Robertson  L.  V.  Jackson 

Freeman  Cronk 
MEMBERS  OF  THE  TRIBE 
L.  V.  Jackson  O.  N.  Blaisdell  H.  Bigger  E.   Bushong 

Paul   Billingsley  Z.  M.  Brown  W.    H.   Toller  Harry  Blaisdell 

George  Queek   '  Freeman  Cronk  Frank  Gray,  Jr.  Howard  Hickman 

Ross  Bentlev  Bert   Gillim  Harry  Gray  E.  A.   Dyas 

N.  C.  Bates'  H.  Morgan  Frank  Gray,  Sr.  John  Cole 

J.  C.  Miller  O.    Graham  Ralph  LaBaw  J.  T.  West 

A.  F.  Tidrow  Dick  Mantle  B.  M.  Hursh  Clyde  Meharry 

Robert   Miller  B.  O.  Bonesteel  John  Hursh 

SQUAWS 
Mrs.   Vinnie  Jenkins      Delia  Alber  Mary    Mantle  Ruth  Vandiner 

Mrs.   Mabel   Sears  Mary  Breman  Evelyn  Cramer  Deane  Tidrow 

Miss  Harry  Hickman    Mamie  Walsh  Jennie  Miller 

INDIAN  CHILDREN 
Robert   Tidrow  Mary  Walsh  John  Walsh  Ralph  Bentley 

PAPOOSE 

Louise  Ann  Hickman 

Furnished  by   IniDroved  Order  of  Redmen  Lodge  of  Danville,  Illinois. 

"  "THE   SPIRIT   OF   THE   WILDERNESS" 

Portrayed  by  Darleen  Walder 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  VERMILION  COUNTY 

JOE  BARRON,  General  William  Henry  Harrison's  Interpreter H.  L.  Hogland 

TRUMAN   BLACKMAN   Robert   Puzey 

LAMBERT  BONA James  Siddell 

ZARIAH  CICOTT vv-J£e1^ Tay lor 

INDIAN  GUIDES — E.  C.  Pate,  Frank  Taylor,  Jean  Wolfe,  R.  Duncan 

INDIAN  HALF-BREEDS H.  C.  Clark,  Herman  Byerly,  Russell  Jones 

REMEMBER    BLACKMAN whit    Taylor 

GEORGE  BECKWITH   Chas.   Boggess 

SEYMOUR  TREAT    Dr.    Stansbury 

MRS.   SEYMOUR   TREAT Mrs.   Dr.    Stansbury 

CHILDREN  OF  THE  TREATS Mildred  and  June  Stansbury 

PIONEER  WOMEN— Mrs.  Whit  Taylor,  Mrs.  Wm.  Dolan,  Mrs.  E.  A.  Church,  Mrs. 
Chas.  Boggess,  Mrs.  H.  C.  Clark,  Mrs.  Joel  Taylor,  Mrs.  Herman  Byerly,  Mrs.  John 
Smoot,  Mrs.  F.  H.  Meneley.  tt 

CRIPPLED  WOMAN  Mrs.  H.  E.  Douglas 

CHILDREN— John  Clark,  Marcilla  Dolan,  Wm.  Dolan,  Jr.,  John  Allen  Douglas,  Hazel 
Kirkhart,  Velma  June  Byerly,  Jack  Jones,  Lowell  Taylor,  Elizabeth  and  Barbara 
Boggess,  Leone  Bentley,  Ruth  Burroughs,  Elizabeth  Carnes,  Alta  Reynolds,  Vanolda 
and  Wayne  Clark. 

GUARDS R°y  Bentley,  W.  H.  Jones,  Kenneth  France 

Cast  furnished   by   Catlin  Township. 


THE    "WORKS"  TAKE  ON  NEW  LIFE 
CAST   OF   CHARACTERS 

CYRUS  DOUGLAS H    E-  Douglas 

MARCUS  SNOW Henry  Klayer 

MOTHER  BLOSS Mrs.  Fred  LJoy<J 

DAUGHTER  RUBY "T.-InfzT,      j 

JAMES   WOODEN    V,Fr,e/'  ™loy 

MAYOR  JOHN  W.  VANCE N.  M.   Payne 

FRANCIS  WHITCOMB C.  F    Byerly 

NEPHEW   OF   JOHN    W.   VANCE Fred    Klayer 

DAN  BECKWITH   Robert  Byerly 

WM.  MORGAN   vrv,,    ^  H"  Lol 

ZARIAH  PETERS G.   W.   Burroughs 

JOHN   KIRKPATRICK  Roy   Clark 

GUY   SMITH   Earl  Jones 

PIONEER  WOMEN— 

Mrs.  G.  W.  Burroughs       Mrs.  C.  F.  Byerly  Rebecca   Puzey 

Mrs    Michael  Mrs.  Robert  Byerly  Mrs.  Nelle  Buckner 

Mrs.  E.  H.  Lloyd  Mrs.  C.  H.  Cord  Grace  Perry 

Cast  furnished  by  Citizens  of  Catlin. 


"THE  DANCE  OF  THE  VEILS" 

Solo   Dancer Jane    Bracewell 

Mary   Agnes   licit-  Medora   Hendrich  Ccoi-ui;!  Bredehoft 

Vlarj    Elizabeth  Sullen-     Ava  Ashley  Margaret   McCormack 

Eleanor   Baldwin  Betty  Lou  Johnson 

erine  Alice  Prentzel     Frances  Gaines  Mary  Jan  i  Hutton 

Catherine   Williams  Kathryn    Bracewell  Delina  Ercanbrack 


"THE  LOT  SALE  IN   DANVILLE" 
CAST  OF  CHARACTERS 

HARVEY  LUDDINGTON,  Auctioneer F.  H.  Meneley 

AMOS    WILLIAMS.    Clerk Lem    Neville 

1U   VKKS 

GORDON   S.   HUBBARD,  Indian  Trader E.   H.   LI. .yd 

MOTHER    BLOSS    Mrs.    Fred    Lloyd 

HER  DAUGHTER Inez  Molt 

GEORGE   BAWORTH,  First  Merchant E.  A.  Jones 

ALVIN    GILBERT,   First   Tavern Wm.    Dolan 

11AZIKIA11  CUNNINGHAM,  Second  Merchant  Thos.  Dunkley 

REV.  KINGSBURY  Jno.  J.   Smoot 

JOHN  W.  VANCE,  Salt  Works N.  M.  Payne 

JAMES   BUTLER   H.   H.   Ki.l.l 

JIM  CLYMAN.  White  Trapper Ed.  Leverich 

OTHER  Bl'YERS— H.  F.  Boring,  A.  C.  Pate.  Wm.  Pate.  Junior  Boggess,  Edwin  Leverich 
WOMEN — Vivian  Leverich,  Esther  Nesbitt,  Mrs.  Roy  Bentley,  Grace  Pate,  Reva  Gulp, 
Juanita  Tarrant.  Helen  Culp,  Ruth  Church,  Mirian  Gilkison,   Nadine  Byerly. 
Cast   furnished  by  Citizens  of  Catlin. 


SUNDAY   SERVICES  IN   1831 

CAST    OF    CHARACTERS 
'ATI1ER    ENOCH    KINGSBURY John    Smoot 

Congregation  at  Pre.-byterian  (  hurch  in  Danville. 
Mrs.   Barlow  Inez   Stickler  Mr.   Elbert   Roberts 

Mrs.  Peter.-. .n  Hazel   Walker  Clifton  Deck 

Mrs.  Elbert  Robert-  Marjorie   Cole  Paul  Wilber 

Mrs.  Ethel  Carte-  .Mrs.   Earl  Besse  Earleen  Besse 

.Mrs.  John   Ingrain  Earl  Besse  Charles  Peterson 

Beatrice  Allison  Clarence   Carter  Floyd   Pasley 

Marguerite   Draper  Fred  Thomas  Pierce    Bowman — Indian 

Antoinette  Yoder  Howard  Allison  John    Ingram — Indian 

Yida  Jennings 

Furnished  by  the  Citizens  of  Russ  Township. 


THE   HARRISON   SCHOOL   IN   ELWOOI)  TOWNSHIP   IN    1S2I 
In  Two  Tableau — I.  "Industrv."   II.  "Readin*.  'Ritin',  'Rethmetic" 

THE  SCHOLARS: 
Arthur    Gannon  Gertrude  Trosper  Charles  Busby 

Lynn  Pittillo  Mary  Belle  Merrill  Milton  Busby 

Leonard  Wright  Hazel  Ruth  Jones  Paul  Victor  Gones 

John  Boggess  Veneta   Stowers  Catherine    Pittillo 

Anna  Rose  Busby  Wendell  Gannon  Helen   Wright 

Doris  Gannon  Louis  Fletcher 

Cast   furnished  by  Citizens  of  Elwood  Township. 


OLD  TIME    FIRE   FIGHTERS 

William  Bell  Harold  Lewis  M.  0.  Peterson 

Glen   Hawkins  Harold    Lent  Wm.   Haas 

i 'has.  Hinkle  Sylvester  Murray  Robert  Jones 

Jay  Green  Don  Kline  Wm.  Yarbrough 

Cast  furnished  by  the  Citizens  of  Hoopeston. 


THE  OLD  EIGHTH  JUDICIAL  CIRCUIT 

TABLEAU  I. 
I.— THE  COMING  OF  THE  CIRCUIT  RIDERS: 

CAST   OF   CHARACTERS 

JUDGE    DAVIS.   Presiding  Judge  of  the  Circuit Fred   Thomas 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN,   A    Circuit   Rider Roscoe   Fairchild 

OLIVER   FICKLIN,  Another  Circuit  Rider___    Paul  Wilber 

HENRY  WHITNEY.  Another  Circuit  Rider Deck  Clifton 

USHER  P.  UNDER,  Another  Circuit   Rider Earl  Besse 

STEPHEN  T.  LOGAN.  Another  Circuit  Rider Clarence  Carter 

JOHN  STUART.  Another  Circuit  Rider Howard  Allison 

A.  P.  FIELD,  Another  Circuit   Rider Mr.   Roberts 


H._COURT  ROOM  SPECTATORS. 


PIERCE    BOWMAN    and    JOHN 
Marguerite   Draper 
Mrs.   John    Ingram 
Beatrice  Allison 
Mrs.  Peterson 
Margery   Cole 


INGRAM Indiana 

Carleen  Besse  Mrs.  Clarence  Carter 

Antoinette  \oder  Mrs.  Earl  Besse 

Inez  Stickler  Vida  Jennings 

Mrs.  Creighten  Floyd  Pasley 

Mrs.  Elbert  Roberts  Charles   Peterson 


Elsie  Yeazel 
Beulah  Louck 
Helen  Swigart 
Kathleen  Catlett 


"THE  OLD   FASHIONED  DANCE 

THE  OLD  FASHIONED  GIRLS 
Margaret  Daymude 
Ruth  Allen 
Dorothy  Dalbey 
Ardith  Lewis 


Cast  furnished  by  Citizens  of  Fairmount. 


Dorothy  Catlett 
Violet  Burns 
Geraldine  Smoot 
Georgia  Parker 


Mildred  Jones 
Charlotte  Britton 
Amy  Britton 
Roberta  Ashley 
Hilda   Bemaites 


'DANCE  OF  THE  NATIONS" 

THE  ENGLISH  GIRLS 
Gertrude  Hossion 
Cosetto  Lawwill 
Ida   Zemaites 
Edith   Dean   Finley 
Janet   Goodwin 


Georgie   Bredehoft 
Jane   Beckwith 
Margaret  Lumbrick 
Vivian   Gray 
Pearl  Wolfe 


Ztlla  Hackman 
Guendolyn  O'Neil 
Ruth  Osbourne 
Virginia  Miller 


Irene  Larrance 
Janice  Fooshee 
Bernice  Peoples 


THE  DUTCH  GIRLS 
Jane  Taylor 
Amy  Turnell 
Mabel   Lee 
Esther  Stroup 
Virginia  Davidson 

THE  CHINESE  GIRLS 
Wintress   Dalby 
Dorothy  Hall 
Eleanor    Hutlgren 
Kathryn  Frazier 

THE  JAPANESE  GIRLS 
Ilene  Hughes 
Doris  Albert 
Irene  Wallace 

THE  ITALIAN  GIRLS 
Marjorie  Houghton 
Marjorie  Kerr 


Vera  Orendorf 
Marcella  Jones 
Ruth  West 
Eva  Wright 


Betty  Greenwood 
Annie  Turnell 
Irma  Lenover 
Mary  Ruth  Moore 


Ava  Ashly 
Constance  Patton 
Mae   McEwan 
Helen  Honack 
Vera  Nickolson 

Willa  Isaacs 
Marv  Atherton 
Ella"Marv  Hos 


Frances  Gaines 
Mary  Jane  Reed 


Mary  Ann  Taylor 
Elizabeth   Lumbrick 
Isabelle   Fournier 

THE  FRENCH  GIRLS 
Alice   Madden  Mildred  Atwood  Mildred  Ellis 

Francis  Orvis  Inez  Mauck  Martha  Neighbor 

Elizabeth  Moore  Esther  Story  Kathryn  Bushong 

June  Jenkins  Lom'=e  Foulk  Beatrice  Boone 

Entire  cast  furnished  by  Danville  High  School. 


PARADE   OF  THE   ENTIRE   COMPANY. 
TABLEAU. 
REVILLE. 


SIMONE  McSHANOG,  Musical  Director 

Personal  Direction  of  EARL   DARFLER,  of  the 

JOE  BOEN  PRODUCING  COMPANY. 

Chicago 


fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMimiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiu* 


ILLINOIS 


POWER  AND  LIGHT" 


LERVICI 


As  Much  A  Tart  of  Danville 
As  the  City  Hall 


\n\ 


Illinois  Power  and  Light  Corporation  supplies 
utility  services  vitally  essential  to  the  welfare  of  every 
resident  of  this  community.  Our  executives  and  our 
family  of  employes  have  their  homes  here;  they  at- 
tend our  churches;  their  children  are  pupils  in  our 
schools.  Hundreds  of  our  stockholders  are  residents 
of  Danville. 

Illinois  Power  and  Light  Corporation  is  in  ■  the 
best  sense  of  the  term  one  of  Danville's  "home  indus- 
tries." 

This  company  recognizes  that  the  best  interests 
of  Danville  and  its  citizens  are  our  own  best  interests 
and  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  we  shall  spare  no  ef- 
fort to  promote  our  mutual  well  being. 


Illinois   / 

Power  and  light 

Corporation. 

24  South  Vermilion  Street  Main  6000 


rilllllllllltllllllllliiiillillllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltllllllllUlin: 


